Lady's Choice
by Juvon Luna Wolf
Summary: A re-write of the scenes between Owen / Claire in Jurassic World. (possible spoilers ahead)
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

 **I really love Jurassic World. I think it is awesome.**

 **So I decided to write a little random one shot.**

 **Summary: A re-write of the scene where Claire comes to Owen for help.**

 **[Note: English not my first language.]**

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Claire was deep in thought as she drove towards her destination. "God, I can't believe Mr Masrani asked for _his_ help with the Indominus Rex. I mean, he can barely dress himself properly let alone analyse the behaviour patterns of a genetically enhanced dinosaur hybrid" then a small bump in the road gently ripped her away from her inner monologue.

The jungle went on forever and for a moment she thought she was on the wrong road, but then she saw the road open up to a lake. The open space, the mountains behind the lake, and in front of her in the road up ahead, the horrid bungalow of a man she could not stand. He was so narrow-minded with no sense of order. _He is such an uncivilized caveman… I bet the only way he can get a woman to go home with him is if he clubs her over the head and drag her to his cave…._ She smiled sarcastically as the Mercedes came to a stop.

She instantly noticed him.

He was crouching next to a dirty motorcycle, and his shirt was almost as dirty as his motorcycle.

 _Can't he just where clean clothes? I mean he's so attractive but he dresses like a…._ then she quickly denied her thoughts of any compliment with regards to his physical appearance and shook them off. She got out of the car and walked towards him.

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Owen saw the silver Mercedes driving up the road.

An unprecedented annoyance crept up inside him and actually spread an unpleasant taste in his mouth. "Ah shit. Now _what?_ " he asked to himself as the Mercedes stopped in front of the bungalow.

Then he saw her as she femininely stepped out of the car with her pointy high heels.

 _God, she looks so tense… Just like she did that night with our date… Worst first date ever… Someone needs to pull that stick out of her…._ then his thoughts were immediately interrupted…

"Good day, Mr. Grady." she said in her high almost snobbish voice.

He couldn't help but smirk at her formal way of greeting him.

"Mr. Grady? Really?" he asked sarcastically, and a little annoyed.

"Mr. Grady, Mr. Masrani requested your help with one of the new _attractions._ " she stated plainly.

He walked towards her and replied with a smirk "Attractions…" he let out a small sarcastic laugh "…you know, you shouldn't use words you don't understand. "

She was instantly offended "Excuse _me?_ "

He stepped closer to her and he noticed her confidence shrinking slightly. He would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy making her uncomfortable. She was one of those people who liked to think that she was in control of everyone and everything, and he felt a sense of achievement in the moments he could put people like this in their place. She was such a cold hearted person. Even his raptors had more emotion than this frigid woman.

 _How dare he? Who the hell does he think he is?..._ she thought to herself.

He grinned at her and glanced at her shoes "God, can you _even walk_ in those? You _do know_ you work at a theme park, not a law firm." … _I pity any law firm who needs to put up with her shit all day… Although, she would make one bossy, even sexy, lawyer…_ his thoughts quickly slithered in before he could stop them.

She stepped forward, unintentionally closing the gap between them. She was very close to him now, she could smell the dirt, oil, and masculine scents on him. She protested annoyed and a bit pissed off, "Firstly, I am the park's operation manager and I need to dress properly since I am in meetings all day and I constantly consult with professional people. I can't just walk around with motor oil on my dirty caveman chest and play with animals all day. And secondly, _what_ exactly do you mean by words…"

"You noticed my chest? And here I thought you didn't have any normal human desires. I honestly don't know if I should be scared or intrigued." he sarcastically grinned and winked at her, sending a small blush across her cheeks, which she tried to ignore as best she could.

He was extremely surprized as he noticed the faint pinkness on her cheek and felt his annoyance rapidly change into amusement.

He stared directly at her now. The sun was slowly setting behind them.

She tried to turn the conversation away from this awkward subject "Mr. Grady, I am not here to play games. You work for the park, and in terms of your contract you are obliged to give assistance when it is required."

"Please stop calling me Mr. Grady!" he didn't yell but his voice made clear his disapproval of her high-and-mighty attitude. "Just stop with all this business shit. I know you are _so_ focused on work you brought an itinerary with you on our first date, and you refused to drink tequila because you were on some weird special diet that prohibits any fun whatsoever. God knows what might have happened on the second date…"

Claire stepped forward and her chest was almost pressing up against his "I didn't want a second date with a guy that shows up for dinner wearing board shorts and who looked at my _cleavage_ rather than my _face_ the _moment_ I introduced myself!"

He was looking down at her and replied fiercely, but not aggressively "I was actually looking at _your dress_ , you uptight crazy person, which strangely looked exactly like the dress you are wearing now, boring and uninteresting."

She stepped forward and her chest was now pressing up against his. The sun had fully set. "My dress was _not_ boring and uninteresting! I tried to look sophisticated and I didn't want you to get the _wrong_ impression!"

He bent down towards her "Oh believe me, I got the _right_ impression."

She could feel his breath on her cheeks. She didn't move.

He instantly noticed their proximity, but he stood his ground. He was interested to see what she would do next.

For a moment, her mind went blank, and for the first time in a long time, she was completely aware of her body and how her body reacted. She could feel his chest against hers, she could feel his breath on her skin, she could smell his masculine scent, and the stars above their heads left her defences completely ineffective.

He stared directly at her now, his chest against hers, those beautiful eyes staring back at him. He was surprised to see that she hadn't stepped backwards or broken eye contact yet and he could feel her body tensing up and her breath deepening.

She wanted to scream at him, insult him, put him in his place, but for some reason it was more important to her to hear his first impression of her. The only words that came out of her mouth, came out in an unsure softer voice, yet still sarcastic "Well what was the _right_ impression?"

Something came over him, a deep understanding of who she was and who she pretended to be, a deep compassion for the type of life she forced herself to live and the life she wanted to live, and a very deep desire to dig his hands into her waist and take her sweet pink lips into his.

He gently but firmly placed his left hand on her waist, and strongly held her in place, and his right hand came up and softly gripped her chin, and gracefully pulled her mouth closer to his.

Her heart was racing. She had no idea what to expect. She could feel his strong hand firmly on her waist, his fingers lightly digging into her skin, and she had every intention of slapping him, and pulling away from him, but her body didn't respond to her intentions. Instead, her body followed desires she didn't even know she had until it had its arms around her.

His lips were grazing hers, barely touching, and he confidently and seductively replied "That you were excited about the date, but you didn't want to show it... because that would make you look weak… And you would rather die than look weak… especially in front of someone as unpredictable as me…"

She felt a small tingle run up her spine as she listened to the words escaping his lips.

There was a pause between them, and for a moment the earth froze and everything was in perfect order and perfect chaos in the exact same instance.

He softly continued and she felt his lips just touch hers "…do yourself a favour…just let go…"

And before he could fully take in her lips, she grabbed the back of his head and pulled him down hard, crashing her lips into his.

His arms wrapped around her body, pulling her closer to him, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, embracing her every new emotion and desire under the wild night sky.

 **Note: Not too great. But just something random. A little random writing.**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

 **Let's see what happens.**

 **Just another random Owen /Claire chapter.**

 **Note: English not my first language.**

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Owen embraced Claire deeply and kissed her passionately, his own eagerness to keep her there in his arms surprizing even himself.

Then her jacket started to vibrate. Owen pulled away slightly, still keeping his arms around her. He seductively and playfully said in her ear "Wow, I didn't think I would have _that_ effect…"

Claire quickly pushed Owen away from her as reality slapped her in the face and she quickly grabbed her phone but she did not answer it in time. "Urgh," she said annoyed "we need to get back to the control room."

Owen sensed her crazy control freak nature setting back in and mockingly said "Oh no, fun Claire is gone. I guess we're back to you bossing me around, at least in the non-fun way…"

Claire quickly snapped at him, but only slightly "Stop it. And just, get in the car."

Owen took a step towards her, touching her waist slightly with his right hand "Well, I'm not really for discussing business in a car, but if it works for you…" he smiled teasingly.

She slapped his hand away but with no real effort and stared at him with an irritated look.

Owen signed in annoyance and amusement, and said "Alright. I'm coming…." a huge grin on his face as he saw her cheeks turning reddish again at his double meaning choice of words, and then continued in a pretend serious voice "…. I mean, I'm going… to the car… now. We need to work. Very serious."

She rolled her eyes as she followed him to the car.

"What are you doing?" she shrieked as she saw him getting in at the driver's side.

He replied, again in a pretend serious voice "We need to get back to the control room. Just get in the car." he smiled as she was grinding her teeth at him using her exact words against her.

She stared at him, he stared at her, and she sighed "Fine. Just drive safely." and she got into the car at the passenger side.

"What is _safe_ on this island?" he asked jokingly, yet a hint of seriousness, as he also got into the car.

She glanced at him coldly from the passenger seat, and he replied playfully "Yes, yes. I will drive safely and not take you into the dark woods and make you eat roasted marshmallows all night… Promise." Her defences quickly melted away as she turned her head to the window, trying to hide the small smile that was tugging at her lips.

He noticed it anyway and started the car.

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"Can I ask you something?" she said as they were driving to the main compound.

"Sure. What do you want to know?" he replied, focusing on the road.

"Why do you live out here at the lake? All employees get special accommodation." she said, without any snobbishness in her voice.

"If you want me to move in with you, just say so" he joked.

She was caught off guard, her heart skipping a beat or two, and her throat went dry, but she kept her composure and calmly answered "No... I just don't understand why you would stay in that beaten down bungalow when employees can stay in the new cabins."

He wasn't offended but he frowned slightly "Why would I want to stay in one of those everything-perfect-in-place cabins. I like the lake and I like staying out here in the bungalow. It keeps me focused. And I need to be focused when I'm working with the raptors. Besides, woman love a rugged mountain man." he finished playfully.

She stayed quiet for a moment, and before she could answer, he continued "I mean it worked on you."

Her defences immediately went up "It didn't _work_ on me. I was sent out here by Mr Masrani to discuss the possibility of acquiring your services with the behavioural patterns for the Indominus Rex."

"Is _that_ why you attacked me by smothering me with your lips? I mean I'm not complaining, you're a great kisser. I'm just not sure if I want a _girlfriend_ that discusses business in that way. I mean you have so many meetings each day, who says you don't treat all your business associates with that same kind of… passion?" he couldn't help the full grin spreading across his face at the end.

She wanted to object at his use of the word 'girlfriend' however the words that flowed out of her mouth was "I am not like that! And I didn't attack you by smothering you. _You_ kissed _me_."

"Are you kidding me?" he exclaimed amusedly "you couldn't keep _your_ hands off _me_. I mean, I can't blame you. You must have wanted me so bad from the first day we met, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I just didn't think you will come out to the bungalow and seduce me like that. Very sexy." he almost broke out in a full laughter at her reaction of disbelief and annoyance.

Her words were caught in her throat and she wanted to slap him, but she just remained speechless and motionless, just staring at him.

He reached over with his right hand, keeping the car steadily on the road with his left, and tenderly squeezed her left leg "Don't worry, I promise I will never tell anyone" he joked.

She wanted to yell at him _You did make the first move!_ but when he placed his hand on the skin of her leg, butterflies awoke in her stomach and were fluttering all over the place.

He expected her to act a lot differently. He expected her to yell at him that he made the first move and he expected her to get annoyed and upset with him, but she just remained silent, looking at him with almost shy eyes. Then he felt the tiny gooseflesh breaking out on her leg. He was rough around the edges, he admitted it, but he was still a gentleman, and if his hand on her leg made her uncomfortable, he was going to remove it, immediately.

He pulled back his hand and assured her "I'm not that kind of guy."

She had no idea what he was talking about as she longed for his hand to be on her skin "What kind of guy?" she asked confused.

He realized that he was completely wrong in assessing the situation. He realized that she had no idea that his hand on her leg might be considered inappropriate under the circumstances. He realized that, as unbelievable as it was, she actually wanted his hand on her leg. He quickly said teasingly, avoiding any further awkward misunderstandings "The kind of guy that takes advantage of a poor defenceless woman in the dark…" he looked at her and smiled.

The butterflies in her stomach were killing her.

 _What was this man doing to her? How was she so attracted to him when she couldn't stand him when she drove up a few hours earlier? And could she really not stand him? Or was it only the horrible date that disappointment her? And why was he so attracted to her? Was he even attracted to her? Why was she asking herself these questions? And why the hell was she wishing he would do more to her than just put his hand on her leg?_ She did not have the answers to any of her questions.

She replied as plainly and calmly as she could "Well good. Now keep your eyes on the road."

He smiled and replied "Yes ma'am."

 **Note: Not too bad I think.**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

 **I am actually enjoying writing this.**

 **Let me see if I can do another chapter.**

 **Note: English not my first language.**

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The Mercedes stopped at the entrance of the main compound.

Owen parked the car and turned toward Claire "See, I promised I would get you safely here."

She just plainly looked at him and said "We need to find Mr Masrani." and she quickly jumped out of the car and Owen followed her lead.

They walked into the compound and headed straight for the control room. Mr Masrani wasn't there and they were instructed to go to the lab, where they found Dr. Henry Wu which was supposed to escort them to the Indominus Rex enclosure. "Sorry Claire. As far as I know he left the park for the evening. He will only be back tomorrow morning." Dr. Wu informed them.

Claire protested "What?! But he sent me to fetch Mr Grady so that we could go to the enclosure tonight."

Owen just frowned and observed the situation amusedly.

Dr. Wu only shook his head "Unfortunately I can't join you tomorrow. The University is sending new research assistants to us tomorrow and Mr Masrani instructed me to assess their profiles before we allow them to work with our researchers. So you and Mr Grady will have to meet Mr Masrani tomorrow at the enclosure. Now if you will excuse me, I need to call my family." and he left them in the lab.

She looked a bit confused and Owen stepped closer to her and teased "You were sent to 'fetch' me?"

She actually didn't notice his playfulness, fully concentrating on the current dilemma "What are we going to do now? We will have to wait until tomorrow. Great." then she turned to him and said "Alright, we will just have to wait until tomorrow morning and meet Mr Masrani at the enclosure."

"So I guess will be sharing a room" he said, pretending to be serious, trying to hide his grin.

She pushed him away slightly with one hand and said "Don't even think about it."

He threw his hands up in a gesture of surrender "Hey, just trying to spice up the relationship."

She turned fully towards him "We don't have a relationship".

He smiled and replied "Well technically, not yet… Want to go to dinner?"

She shrieked a bit "What?!"

A small laugh escaped his lips "Well, I assume when you are not scaring little children, you _do_ eat. So we might as well have dinner together. Work on our complicated _relationship_." using that word intentionally.

Her body was starting to tingle a bit, but she fought with all her strength to avoid it "No thank you I'm fine. Let's just go to the hotel and go to bed…" she already had her own room in the hotel but she was not planning on inviting him into it, at least, not yet.

Owen smiled and she exclaimed "To _different_ beds." and he almost couldn't contain the laughter that wanted to escape from his lips.

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The hotel was in walking distance and before they knew it they were walking into the building.

"Well you can just ask Christie at reception to give you a room. Tell her I sent you. Goodnight." Claire said, leaving Owen in the reception area.

Owen wanted to tease her a little further, but the last thing he was, was a jackass. He knew she must be tired and he didn't want to annoy her any further, so he only replied with a "Goodnight" and went to the receptionist to get a room for the evening.

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"So how are the boys doing?" Claire heard her sister's voice over the phone.

"They're in the room next to mine and there is a door that combines the rooms. They are fine, Karen. I told you I would look after them. Don't you trust me?" Claire asked a bit annoyed.

"Of course I do sweetie… It's just, you don't have any kids of your own and kids can sometimes take a lot out of you. Especially someone else's kids. Believe me, I know." Karen tried to sound unworried, but she was actually at the point of biting her nails with worry. She loved Claire so much, but she knew that Claire might not fully understand how to handle a teenage boy and his little brother, especially because she had no children of her own. And because of the fact that Claire always pushed people, including friends and family, away for some unexplained reason.

Claire was silent for a moment "I'm fine. Everything is fine" and she sighed.

"Is it _really_?" Karen asked concerned, and curious.

Claire took a deep breath and answered "Yes… well… no…. Well… God I don't know! He is driving me crazy!"

Karen quickly worried "Listen, boys will be boys. Just keep calm for another two days or so and they will…"

"No it's _not_ the boys!" Claire confessed.

Karen was relieved, and confused "…So what is it? Or… _who_ is it?"

Claire hesitated, and finally said "…it's this guy and…"

Rewind to girl-talk they once had as teenagers while sharing a room in their parent's old house.

"A guy?!" Karen asked, almost sounding like a high school girl.

Claire felt herself blush a little "Well… he works at the park. With the raptors actually. He lives in a bungalow at the lake and he…"

Karen interrupted "Wait, wait. This sounds like the guy you went on a date with last year..."

Claire was silent for a moment then answered "Yeah… It's the same guy."

Karen was confused but more curious then ever "I thought you said the date was terrible? So what changed your mind?"

Claire could feel her cheeks turn a feverish red and almost whispered her reply "...this afternoon, Mr Masrani sent me to go to him and ask for his help with one of the dinosaurs…"

"…And?..." Karen asked, intensely waiting for her sister's response.

Claire's throat went dry again and she choked out "…he kissed me, or I kissed him…. kind of… it was a spur of the moment type thing okay!"

Karen was shocked "Oh my God! Who _are_ you?! Because you sure don't sound like Claire."

"I know, it was a mistake! I mean, this could end so badly. He is an employee, and I am the operations manager. It would be a scandal and I could lose my job."

Karen was silent for a moment and then asked "Was it any _good_?"

Claire's whole body was invaded by tiny butterflies the moment she thought about Owen kissing her and she whispered shyly "…yeah, it was…"

Karen almost screamed in her ear "Oh my God! That is _so_ not like you!"

Claire, to her own surprize, eagerly continued "He actually asked me to dinner tonight, but I said no. I just…"

Karen protested "He asked you to _dinner_? Why did you say no? Wait, is he attractive? What does he look like?"

Claire responded "I guess. Yeah he is. I mean I think so… How can I answer _that_?" and she felt the lies cover her true thoughts about Mr Grady's physical appearance.

Karen laughed "I don't know. Tell me what he looks like."

Claire smiled, and she didn't even notice it "Well, alright… He is like a rugged caveman, with broad shoulders. And, okay, he is kind of sweet, and actually a lot smarter than I thought. But he just keeps annoying the hell out of me!" _Lies, lies, lies_ she thought to herself.

Karen smiled and said "Listen, sweetie, get your but in something sexy, if you have something sexy in that dull closet of yours, and go and find him."

Claire could feel her body getting anxious and excited at the same time "What?! No, I need to watch your kids and…"

"They will be fine. Zach knows I will kill him in anything happens to Gray. Get your ass out of the door. Just tell Zach to watch his brother and that I love them and that I will call them tomorrow."

Claire turned to the door, and Zach was listening to her every word. She said to Karen "Sure. You got it. Love you."

Karen smiled at the other end of the phone "Go get him. Love you." and she hung up.

Claire hung up the phone and looked at Zach, and Gray was standing next to him.

Zach and Gray were staring at her and she said "Hey, guys. That was your mom. Did you want to speak to her?"

Zach shook his head and a small smile tugged as his lips "You might want to change before you go."

Claire replied coyly "I'm not going anywhere…"

Gray replied plainly "We heard everything aunt Claire. It's okay. We'll be fine."

Zach decided to mock his aunt a little and said "By the way, you probably don't want to wear pink girly pyjamas on your date with your _rugged caveman_ …" with a huge smirk on his face.

Claire could feel her cheeks warm up "Okay to bed you two. I promised your mom."

Gray and Zach turned around and went to their room.

Claire stared at the door and exclaimed to the room "Oh what the hell?" and she stormed out, in a black robe and pink short pyjamas, without really considering what she was wearing, straight to the room of Owen Grady.

 **Note: Cool for now. I have an idea for the next chapter. Will see how it goes.**


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

 **Something romantic. Let's see if it works.**

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Claire stormed down the hall and down the elevator to the floor just below hers. The first two floors were reserved for employees when they needed extra accommodations and she knew the room just below hers had been the only available one the receptionist could had given to him as an employee of the park, since the others were all taken this month.

She hurried to his door, ready to knock, and then she stopped.

"What am I doing?" she asked herself while standing in front of his door.

"This is crazy…" she tried to convince herself, and then she slowly lifted her right hand, and knocked three times on the white hotel door. _Knock, knock, knock._

Suddenly a thought ran through her mind as she stood in front of the closed door … _It's late… He is already asleep… What the hell was I thinking…. I need to leave…._ and just then the door opened, and her worst nightmare came true…

He was only wearing a towel, and his body was dripping wet. She was in big trouble… really big trouble.

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He was more than pleasantly surprized to find her at his door, and wearing nothing more than short pink pyjamas and a short black robe, exposing her lower thighs as well as her legs "Is this a booty call? Because I should warn you, I'm not that kind of guy. Cute pj's." he smiled at her.

She felt out of control and unprepared. He was staring directly at her, with that gorgeous sweet smile, wearing nothing but a freaking towel, and his wet torso all in her face. She tried her best to sound relaxed and cool, but she stumbled over her words a bit "Hi… hi… Sorry,… are you… I mean, did I catch you at a bad time?..."

He stood there looking at her, thinking that if the world would end at this very moment, he would not want to do anything else than listen to and look at her. His smile grew when he noticed the shade of pink spreading across her cheek. He replied "No I just took a shower. But if I knew you were coming to my room I would have waited for you…" he winked.

Her body was on fire as her desires started to creep up. She shook it off. "I actually wanted to ask you, if you still wanted to go to dinner? But, I actually didn't realize how late it was. So, I guess I will just see you tomorrow… Goodnight…" and then she turned away and started walking.

He couldn't let her leave. Not while he was enjoying her company so intensely, so he went after her.

Suddenly she felt a hand grip her wrist, and before she knew it, she was swung around and her hands landed on his wet chest.

She looked up, pulling away a bit, staring into his eyes. She was scared and excited all at once.

He leaned down towards her, and she lifted her chin towards his mouth.

Just when she thought he was going to kiss her, he playfully said smiling "I don't do booty calls… But I do late night dinners. And late night… coffee…"

She felt herself smile and she tried to push him away, but he held on to her "Maybe coffee might be easier…" she whispered.

"Lady's choice… Let me just get dressed… Come on in…" his smile didn't waiver for a moment.

"What?" she asked anxiously.

He turned around and walked into his room and said "Well, you said it yourself, it is kind of late and I just figured, you know, since we are both half naked, it might be easier having coffee in the room…"

She was relieved, terrified, and excited, and completely unsure of her next move, but after a moment, she followed him into his room.

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The room looked almost exactly like hers, and she walked to the maroon couch and sat down with her one leg folded under her.

Owen quickly dodged into the bedroom, and came out wearing black long sleeping trousers the hotel offered complimentary to all new guests and employees checking in. Yet, he didn't find time to find a shirt, so he was still shirtless, to her surprize.

He walked to the phone, and ordered coffee from room service.

Then he walked towards her, then stopped, and stared at her.

She was immediately concerned and asked "What's wrong?"

He looked at her on the couch, and then at the single chair at the other side of the room, and pointed at the single chair "Now, I don't want you to try and seduce me again, especially with your half naked body and all, so I guess I will sit that side." and he walked to the single chair and sat down.

Strangely, this made her feel more awkward, and she replied "Firstly, I am not half naked. I am wearing normal plain pyjamas. And secondly, I didn't seduce you so just sit over here for heaven's sake."

He was astounded by her courageous offer, and pleasantly surprized of her surrender of control for a moment. "Firstly, those pyjamas look like you are ready to go on honeymoon, so it is fair to say you are half naked, and secondly,…" he didn't question it for a moment more, and stood up, walked over to the couch, and sat down beside her. He turned his body so that he was facing her, and he opened his arms widely and said "…happy now?"

She felt her heart race at their close proximity.

If he was being honest with himself, his heart was racing too.

She looked around the room, avoiding eye contact with him "So, how do you like the hotel room?" she asked nervously.

He looked around and answered "It's no bungalow, but I guess it will do." he smiled when she quickly glanced back at him.

She stared at him, and rolled her eyes slightly, looked away, and sarcastically commented "There is just no impressing you, is there?" the words slid out before she could stop them.

He looked at her and replied teasingly "Why do you ask? Are you trying to impress me? "

She glanced at him and protested "No. I was just wondering."

He grinned and said "Well, if you are not trying to impress me you shouldn't wear those cute pyjamas."

She slapped him playfully on his chest, smiling "God you are terrible!"

He laughed at her, and for the first time, she found herself actually laughing with him.

Then they heard a knock on the door.

Owen jumped up and said "I'll get it. You just stay here, Mrs Robinson."

She smiled and thought to herself ' _he is such an idiot'_ not realizing for a moment that she was falling hard for him.

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"So let me guess, you take your coffee like you take your man… strong and sweet…" he jokingly said as he was bringing the coffee to her.

She smiled, without blushing too much, and sarcastically said "Well, I guess you would know…"

She almost cursed herself when she heard herself say those words. But she couldn't help it. It came so naturally. Maybe it was because he actually made her feel like a normal person… A person who didn't intimidate him… A person who wasn't a complete control freak… A person who actually wanted someone like him in her life...

She was ripped from her thoughts when he sat down next to her "You see, I told you. Seducing me already. Sorry gorgeous, I don't do booty calls, so stop trying." she looked at him and he winked at her.

"You are unbelievable." she said more as an amused sarcastic statement, yet he teasingly replied "….what can I say? You have good taste." and they smiled at each other, enjoying their coffee on the maroon couch next to each other, their legs touching and neither of them complaining about that fact.

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After their coffee was finished, and a few laughs were exchanged between them, Claire was getting tired, and Owen could see it by her small yawn she tried to hide.

He stood up and stretched out his hand, gesturing for her to take it.

She looked at it and said "What now?"

He looked down at her and smiled "Come on, it's late. Time to go to bed…"

Her eyes grew a bit larger and then he smiled even broader "Don't worry, I mean you need to go to your bed, and I will go to mine…"

Then she took his hand and stood up, both of them leaving his room to go to hers.

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He walked her all the way up to her door, shirtless and all.

When they got there, she turned around and said "Thank you. I really enjoyed that."

He leaned over to her and softly kissed her cheek. She almost giggled at his stubble gently grazing her soft skin.

He pulled away and said "Well, goodnight."

As he was turning away from her, she placed her hand on his chest, stopping him. He looked at her surprized and intrigued.

Then she stood up on her toes, and kissed him on the lips.

His hands wrapped around her tiny waist and lifted her into the air slightly.

He felt her warm body against his own. She felt his muscles wrapping around her and embracing her tightly. She parted her lips slightly to taste every bit of his, and he allowed her all her desires.

After a moment or two, he put her back down and she pulled away.

She stared directly into his eyes, then whispered shyly "Goodnight" and quickly went into her room.

He stood outside her door for a moment longer, a smile appearing on his face, proclaiming to her door "God, what is she doing to me?" not knowing that she was smiling and wondering the exact same thing about him, on her side of the door.

 **Note: Okay, not too bad. I think. I hope not too bad.**


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

 **Let's try some action.**

 **I am going to use the Indominus Rex scenes from the movie. I am going to put my own spin on it. Well, I'm going to try. Hopefully it won't come off completely cheesy :-)**

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It was barely morning yet, but Claire was dressed and ready to get to the enclosure. If she had to be completely honest, it was actually in very poor taste of Mr Masrani to not attend to the business at hand last night, like they originally had scheduled. Then her mind jumped to the very night before, and a certain person who made the evening quite enjoyable. "Focus Claire! You need to focus! It's most probably going to be a difficult day. Mr Grady needs to assess the animal's behavioural patterns and hopefully Mr Masrani will find everything in order for the unveiling of the animal in the next two months." she told herself as she was heading for her front door. "Now, I just hope he is…" then she opened the door and there Owen Grady stood, ready to knock. "Oh, morning!" he said cheerfully "ready to go?"

She smiled and replied "…yes… let's go."

He smiled at her and stretched out his arm, gesturing to her to lead the way.

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The drive to the enclosure was quite awkward as neither of them said anything.

After a mile or two, Owen cheekily commented "You _know_ we didn't sleep together, _right_?"

She almost lost control of the steering wheel "What are you talking about?!"

He continued happily "We haven't spoken more than five words to each other all morning. Usually that happens when two people slept together and feel bad about it the next day. But I don't remember us sleeping together. So loosen up a bit."

She replied nervously "I can't loosen up. This assessment of the animal needs to go perfectly, otherwise Mr Masrani, who is the boss of both of us might I remind you, will _not_ give his approval to unveil this asset in the next month, and that will set us back."

"Do you _hear_ yourself? Honestly. It's not even 8am and you are already laying out the business plan for the next month. And by the way, you should really stop referring to your animals as 'assets'. How would you like it if I referred to _you_ as my ' _asset'_?" he grinned.

She wanted to protest, but found it more difficult than she had originally thought "…that is not the same thing at all… The park depends on the animals to operate at maximum capacity, and that makes them assets. I don't think referring to them as 'assets' is such an unconceivable concept."

"So, if I need you to _operate at maximum capacity,_ that would make you an asset to me?" he grinned wider and anxiously awaited her response.

She blushed, as he knew she would, and she was speechless.

He playfully replied "Well good to know."

She shook her head, smiled a bit, and drove on to the enclosure.

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When they stopped at the enclosure, Mr Masrani was already there.

He was actually walking out of the enclosure, and Claire immediately knew something was wrong.

She jumped out of the car, and Owen followed close behind.

"Mr. Masrani, good morning. What is going on?!" she anxiously asked.

"Claire, we have a problem. The animal is _not_ in the enclosure." Mr Masrani replied, obviously deeply concerned.

Owen walked up to them and stretched out his hand, shaking Mr Masrani's hand "Morning sir. What's the problem?"

"We checked all the thermal scanners. There is no signal. There is nothing alive in that enclosure." Mr Masrani answered.

"No that is impossible." Claire said as she hurried to the enclosure.

"Mr Grady, please see what you can do about this. We can _not_ have one of our new assets roaming around freely in the park. It could be disastrous." Owen noticed that Mr Masrani was extremely worried, though he was excellent at hiding it. "Yes sir. We'll keep you updated." he said and went after Claire.

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Owen came into the room that looked out on the enclosure.

Claire was staring at the glass. Then she looked down, fiercely pressing buttons on the computer screen in front of her. It actually looked like she was playing whack-the-weasel with her fingers.

Owen walked up to her and stood next to her and firmly said "Claire, calm down."

She snapped at him, but he actually understood why because this was one massive problem "No! I can't calm down! We need to find it!" and she turned to the employee on duty "Ben where is it?! When did you last see it?!"

Ben was a hard working employee, but not so young anymore. In fact, he was in his sixties and he occasionally dozed off, yet there was no way that he wanted to tell Claire that.

Owen realized this and decided to step in under the circumstances "Claire" he placed his hands on her shoulders and tried to calm her down just a bit "just give him a chance to speak" and he slightly moved her to the side so that he can speak to the elderly gentleman. She actually stepped aside.

Owen bent down and said "Ben, listen, just tell me what happened. We need to find this thing, and fast."

Ben was instantly calmer and he explained "I came in about 4 hours ago. I saw it. It was here. But, I sometimes struggle to stay awake when I am on duty from the early hours in the morning. I'm sorry."

Claire wanted to jump on him and strangle him, but she remained calm, for the moment.

Owen nodded his head, and continued in a calm voice "Okay. So when was the last time you saw it?"

Ben replied "About an hour ago… maybe less…"

Owen nodded, and gave a tiny smile "Okay. Good. Thank you Ben."

He turned to Claire and his expression immediately changed "We need to check the enclosure."

Claire's eyes widened and her voice grew a bit hoarse "Are you out of your mind?!"

Owen walked to the window and pointed at the wall "You see those marks", the wall had huge claw marks all over it "if your scanners aren't picking up any life in that enclosure, then the only answer is that the animal climb out. But we will only know for sure if we go in there."

Claire was so frightened, but she knew Owen was right. She hesitantly replied "Alright. But we need to call control and let them track the animal. We need to know where she is."

Owen nodded and turned to Ben "Ben, we need one of your guys with us."

Ben nodded and said "No problem" and he called one of his men to escort them into the enclosure.

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The enclosure was massive, yet thick and cluttered with green jungle plants.

Owen walked in front with one of Ben's men, and Claire followed hesitantly behind.

They walked deep into the enclosure to the large wall with the huge claw marks on them.

The man turned to Owen and asked "I don't understand how she could climb out. Do you _really_ think she actually climbed out?"

Owen replied plainly "Depends…"

The man frowned at him and asked "On what?"

Owen glanced at Claire, who looked back at him then turned her head slightly away, "….what kind of dinosaur they cooked up in that lab…"

Suddenly Claire's radio cracked and whistled and she heard Ben's voice "…Some..ing…ong…"

She picked up the radio and replied "Ben, I can't hear you. Say again."

"Something is wrong! She is in the cage!"

Claire looked up and whispered "Oh my God…"

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"Owen run! She is in the cage!" Claire yelled and Owen grabbed her hand and started running towards the open gate.

They heard a roar behind them, followed by a scream.

Claire wanted to look back but Owen yelled "Don't look back! Just keep going! Ben, close the gate!"

"We won't make it!" Claire screamed.

"We will! Just keep going!" Owen yelled back at her, as he saw the Indominus Rex close behind them.

For a moment Owen thought they would die in that enclosure, but just before the gate closed, they wedged through. And so did the Rex.

The dinosaur got caught in the gate for a moment, and that gave Owen a second to consider their options. He grabbed Claire by the wrist, slid under the one of the cars, pulling her down next to him.

Claire was shaking, and fresh tears ran down her face. Owen knew they were in a bad spot, and as he looked over Claire's body, out towards the other car, he saw one of the other workers crouching behind it. He knew the situation looked even worse for that poor man.

Then he heard the Rex break through the gate.

He quickly snaked his left arm under Claire's neck and placed his left hand firmly over her mouth, his right hand gripped her stomach and he pulled her tightly to him, her back to his stomach, and he whispered in her ear "Shhh… Close your eyes…."

She shook her head and whispered "I can't…"

He gripped her tighter "Just do it Claire, and don't open them until I tell you too, no matter what happens"

She hesitantly said "…okay…" and she closed her eyes as tightly as she ever had in her whole entire life.

The enormous feet of the Rex moved slowly closer.

Owen watched silently as the Rex moved towards the other worker.

Before any of them knew what was going to happen next, the Rex picked up the car and threw it toward the car Owen and Claire was hiding under.

Owen could still see the worker, and prayed to God that Claire still had her eyes closed. She did.

Then the Rex chomped the worker, and blood was dripping down its jaws.

Then he turned towards the other car.

Owen turned Claire on her back a bit, and he moved his left hand from her mouth to her eyes, and whispered softly "…no…" and she kept her eyes closed.

He quickly slit one of the cars pipes with his knife, and oil spilled all over Claire.

She kept her eyes tightly shut, because frankly, what the hell else was she going to do. And she actually trusted Owen more than she had trusted anyone in a long time.

Owen had no time to act like a gentleman. They were going to die if he didn't get them out of this. He kept his left arm under her neck and his left hand on her eyes and mouth, and with his right, he started to quickly rub the oil over her neck, breasts and stomach. He could hear her breathing hitch and he dreaded the situation. This was definitely _not_ the way he wanted to touch her body for the first time, but under the circumstances, he had no choice.

He could hear the Rex getting closer to the car.

When Claire was almost fully covered in oil, he turned her back to him and gripped her firmly against him in a spooning position, trying to disguise his own scent with the oil scent already on her body. _God I should have switched places with her…. She is not safe…. She needs to be behind me…_ his thoughts made him crazy, but he couldn't change any of that now.

Then the Rex lowered its head next to the car and growled horribly.

Claire was terrified, but she swore that she would not open her eyes, no matter what.

Owen could feel her small body shiver against his, and he could feel warm tears run over his fingers as he clutched her mouth firmly.

The Rex lingered there for a moment.

Claire was petrified, and if Owen ever wanted to admit it, he was too.

The Rex sniffed at the car a few times, growling, then stopped for a moment, then lifted its head, and walked off.

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After a few moments, after Owen knew the Rex was gone, he slowly released his grip on Claire.

Then he realized she still had her eyes closed.

He leaned closer to her, and softly said in her ear "Claire, she is gone. You can open your eyes."

Claire slowly, carefully, opened her eyes.

She turned towards Owen. He was looking at her, sweat all over his brows.

He tenderly asked her, as tenderly as possible "Are you okay?"

And with that question, she started crying, yet she tried to hide it "…yeah…I'm okay.."

He pulled her closer, her face now buried deep inside his chest, his arms gripping her tightly again, and hugged her, until she was cried out.

 **Note: Cute and cool. I think.**


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6** **– repost : needed to fix a few things**

 **This was supposed to be a one shot. But I think I can maybe do a few chapters more. We will see.**

 **I am not going to re-write the movie, because the movie was awesome! I just want to re-write the scenes between Owen and Claire (and make up some new scenes but still in the context of the original film).**

 **I think let me do a little bit of drama in this chapter.**

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The ride back to the main compound was silent. Neither Claire nor Owen said anything. Claire was still in mild shock and Owen just wanted to give her some space, at least until they got to the compound and they figured out what to do about the Indominus Rex currently on the loose.

They arrived at the compound and Claire jumped out, without a word to Owen, and rushed to the control room. He got out of the car and followed her.

When Claire walked into the control room, everyone stared at her, and she didn't even acknowledge them in the slightest. "Where is the Indominus now?" she asked plainly.

One of the operators told her "She is nearing the invisible fences at the North side of the Island."

"Alright, send in the park security sector and tell them to use non-lethal weapons." Claire's voice was cold and distant.

Owen looked at her, and knew she was still shaken by the incident, and stepped in "You can't do that. She will kill each and every one of those men, you have to use lethal…"

She snapped at him "Mr Grady this is not your call to make! If you can't be helpful then leave this room immediately!"

He understood _why_ she was so tense. She did almost die, they both did. But that was no reason to treat him like shit. And he was not going to allow that under any circumstance. He took a few furious steps towards her, until he was in her face "I'm done with this... You are on your own." he turned around and he walked out.

Claire felt her heart sink, but she ignored it. She had more important things to worry about, or at least, that is what she thought.

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Owen wanted to go back to the raptors, focus on creatures he could actually understand. Then he stopped in his tracks as he walked passed the lab. _Don't do it… It's her problem… And she can do everything on her own… She doesn't need you… Just leave and let her worry about the problem she is responsible for…_ his mind was screaming. He started walking passed the lab, and then said out loud to himself "Urgh… dammit! I hate her!" and he walked into the lab to find out what the hell they were dealing with.

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Claire stood in the control room, watching the monitors closely.

Lowery, one of the other tech operators of the park, sat next to her and saw the whole argument, the _real_ argument that no one else was aware of, that transpired between Claire and Owen. He carefully and cautiously commented "That was a bit harsh. I think he was really just trying to help."

Claire glared at him but remained silent on the matter, and said "Call the guests back. All rides closed. And pull up the monitors. I need to see how the guests are reacting to the situation."

Lowery pulled up the screens, and Claire stared at them for a moment.

All seemed controlled for the moment, and then she saw a little girl on the screen. The girl was running to her mother, and her mother embraced her warmly.

Suddenly Claire looked at Lowery, who noticed that she was watching the woman and her young daughter on the screen.

Claire stepped away and called Zara, her personal assistant.

"Zara, I need you to bring my nephews to the control room immediately" she said over the phone.

Zara instantly replied "Claire, they're _not_ with me. I came to the room this morning and they were gone. I have no idea where they are. I've been trying to find them all day."

Claire's heart sank and she hung up the phone.

She flashed over to Lowery's chair "My nephews are somewhere in the park! Find them! Pull up the screens all over the park and find them! Call security to help!"

Lowery turned to her and exclaimed "Claire, there are about twenty thousand people here. We can't see every inch of the park on the monitors and all the security teams are deployed throughout the park. We can't call them back at this stage. I'm sorry. But the only way to find them is to go out and look for them."

Claire felt the panic overtake her.

Lowery saw it and decided to touch her arm softly, in an attempt to comfort her a little. Even though he suspected she might pull her arm away, she surprized him buy not moving her arm at all. She just stared at him, her eyes almost watering up. He softly said "Maybe there is someone who can help you… If you just asked him, _nicely_ …." and she knew exactly who he was talking about.

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Owen couldn't find any information at the lab, mostly because they wouldn't allow him access to it.

He walked out of the main compound building, and down the stairs. He didn't want to think about it, even though he knew that Mr Masrani counted on him. He actually had no idea what to do next.

Then he heard his name "Owen! Owen, wait! Please!"

He turned around and saw her running towards him in those annoying high heel shoes he hated so much.

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She reached him before he could take another step, stopping in front of him, mildly out of breath, having no idea what she was going to say to him, so she said "Please, I need your help."

He couldn't believe the nerve of this woman. She had more mood swings than a teenage girl.

He replied sarcastically "Sorry, I can't be helpful, so I need to leave immediately. Good luck." he turned around and started to walk away.

She was furious and she ran after him, and grabbed him by his arm and swung him halfway around. "What the _hell_ is _wrong_ with you?! I need your help and you just _walk away!_ " she yelled at him.

He noticed her hand was still gripping his arm, but didn't bother to remove it, and firmly and passionately replied, while waiving his index finger at her face slightly "As far as I know I've been doing _everything_ you asked me to! And you show your gratitude by treating me like shit whenever you feel like it!"

She exclaimed "That is _not_ true!"

He took a step towards her, closing the gap between them "I think I will go back to the raptors. At least I know they understand the concept of _mutual respect._ " and he removed her hand from his arm and turned around.

She wanted to yell at him and curse him, but her nephews were missing and she was desperate. Besides, she knew if anyone could find them, it was him.

She ran after him and stopped in front of him.

He stopped, reluctantly.

"Please,…Owen… My nephews are missing. I can't find them on my own…. I need your help… Please…" she said in a soft weak voice, putting all her faith in his answer to come.

He looked at her without saying a word.

For a moment she felt all hope flow out of her soul, then he pursed his lips a little and answered "Let's go." grabbing her by the hand and leading her to the garage where the park stored their off road jeeps.

 **Note: Short and sweet xoxo**


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

 **I am honestly not sure what I am going to write in this chapter, or the next.**

 **I guess I will just make it up as I go along.**

 **Note: This whole fanfic is actually written for the relationship, and the development of the relationship, between Owen and Claire. It might be girly, and too fluffy, but it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, and above all, it's a whole lot of fun ;-)**

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Owen and Claire drove to the outskirts of the Northern side of the Island. Lowery had said that there was a gyrosphere travelling off track and the on board camera confirmed it was her nephews.

Owen was driving, not saying much, and Claire was silently worrying about her nephews.

The awkward silence was eating her up from the inside out. She wanted so badly to speak to Owen about what had happened in the control room, but she was afraid that she might make things worse.

Owen kept his eyes on the road. He wanted so badly to apologize to her. He still felt she handled the situation badly, but he didn't want this awkward tension between them, especially considering the fact that her nephews were lost in the park with a very dangerous animal on the loose. He was never afraid to speak his mind, but this situation seemed different, more fragile in a way, and he decided to rethink his apology for the moment.

Just then he heard her voice coming from the passenger side "Thank you, for doing this… You didn't have to help… But I'm grateful that you're out here with me… And, I know things got a little out of hand in the control room… And, I'm sorry… for treating you like that…"

He glanced at her, in utter surprize.

He saw that she looked at him, genuinely looked at him, and he saw that she sincerely meant what she said.

Her heart grew cold, as he just stared at her, without a word.

Then before her heart could freeze over completely, he spoke in a gently yet slightly sarcastic voice "Well, it's official… Hell just froze over."

She frowned, and was a bit hurt by his comment "Wow, is it so unbelievable that I would apologize to you?"

His facial expression remained neutral and he kept his eyes on her, barely glancing at the road now and then "Not at all. What's unbelievable is that you actually _wanted to_ apologize to me."

She was getting so frustrated with his unpredictable responses "Why wouldn't I apologize to you? I was rude and I _know_ I was rude, so I apologized for it."

Suddenly he stopped the jeep and turned off the engine.

She looked around and then asked "What are you doing?!"

He kept his left hand on the steering wheel, and his right hand he placed on the seat behind her head, turned towards her, and leaned closer to her. His face was friendlier now, but he was still not smiling at all and a serious shadow lingered over his eyes. His facial expression actually made her feel a bit edgy, but she kept her eyes locked on his.

Then it seemed like a small smile was tugging at the corners of his lips, but Claire couldn't be sure, and she didn't want to misinterpret the situation. Finally he spoke in the most honest, with no sarcasm or humour to it, voice she ever heard from him, "I like you." and her heart stopped at his words.

Her mouth dropped open slightly as she thought her ears were deceiving her in some strange way, and she choked out in a pathetic whisper "…what?"

The smile she thought she saw before, was clearer now, but still not definitive, and he answered "You heard me… And I have _no idea why…._ I absolutely hate the fact that you try to control everything and everyone around you, and you have a _really_ bad habit of completely lying to yourself about what you want, and worst of all, you pretend to be this cold workaholic so you will have a reason to push people away, and I am pretty sure you are setting the world record for the number of mood swings one woman can have in one day…"

She felt rage build up in her and she fiercely replied "You complete assho…"

Then his right hand, the one resting on the seat behind her head, gripped her hair tightly and he pulled her towards him, and crashed his lips onto hers.

Her eyes closed, her breathing deepened, and she savoured every rage-filled passionate moment of this unrealistic and confusing attraction interaction.

He pulled back, his lips still grazing hers, their eyes locked on each other's, and he whispered "…But, I really, like you… And it took _every bit_ of strength in me _not_ to tell you _that_ when you stepped out of that Mercedes yesterday…" and she felt her body shiver as his breath touched her lips.

She wanted to confess her feelings for him, her true feelings. She wanted to tell him how she longed for a person who could be this honest with her, a person who actually wanted to be with her in spite of all her control freak tendencies, a person who accepted her for exactly who she was, not who she pretended to be, and most importantly, a person who could push her to her limits and make her face her fears. But she didn't want to be with him if she couldn't fully commit to him. Her work was all she knew, and she couldn't just risk losing the one stable thing in her life that kept her going each day… But she couldn't just let him walk out of her life, either. She was a fighter, always have been, and she would never forgive herself if she didn't fight for something she truly wanted in her life…. and she truly wanted him.

She made her decision, and then whispered words that neither she nor Owen, ever thought would come from her mouth"…you don't want to be with someone like me…" She felt a dark sadness pierce her heart as the words left her lips, but she controlled her breathing and kept her composure. If there was ever a time to hide her feelings, this was it. She knew he would grow tired of her and she knew then she would be risking her job for nothing. She knew he didn't really like her, that it was just a game to him. And she knew that saying those nine words, hurt like hell.

He saw her calm composure, he heard her breathing regain its normal pace, he saw her apparent emotionless eyes staring at him, and he knew it was all _bullshit._ He leaned in and kissed her again, very softly and whispered against her lips "Just that you think _that,_ shows me how truly _insane_ you are…" then he pulled back, smiled broadly, and confidently said "Come on. We need to find your nephews. And fast." and he started the jeep.

She was completely shocked at his response, and at that moment she knew that she could trust him completely, and she knew that he would do everything to keep her, and her family, safe... and that was all that mattered.

 **Note: I just want to think how I want to proceed from here. Originally I only wanted to write Chapter 1 of this story, but it's been so much fun so far I had to write some more. I am a little loss at the moment where to go from here. Do I follow the movie like I have been doing (focusing on Owen and Claire's relationship), or do I make up a completely different story? Choices, choices :-)**


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8** **– repost : some things needed to change**

 **I would just like to say to everyone who is reading my fanfic, thank you so much. And a big thanks to everyone who left me a review, or gave me some good advice. Really appreciate it xoxo**

 **Okay, so now, I thought about jumping to Gray and Zach a bit. But, I will see how it goes when I start writing this chapter.**

 **I am definitely going to follow the events of the movie. I feel it is unnecessary to change the events, because I actually still think (after seeing the film 4 times already)(yeah, I know, I'm a sad little person)(laugh laugh) the film is pretty freaking awesome. So what I will do is, if I see it is necessary, I will jump to the kids. If not, I will stay with Owen and Claire. They are after all the main reason why I am even writing this fic.**

 **Okay, let's go.**

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"What's _that?_ " Claire asked as she saw something in the distance.

Owen slowed down the jeep, bringing it to a stop. "Stay in the car." he told her.

They had been driving off road for about an hour, trying to find the gyrosphere Claire's nephews were driving. But they didn't find anything yet.

Owen slowly walked to the wounded animal lying in front of him. It was an Apatosaurus, and he could see she was dying. He knelt down beside her and gently stroked her head.

"Is she going to die?" Claire's voice touched his ears.

He looked up and saw her standing over him and the dinosaur "I told you to stay in the car. It's not safe out here."

Claire remained silent as she looked at the animal lying in front of her. For the first time she understood what Owen meant. She understood that these animals were more than mere assets. They were special, in the purest of ways. They were fully and completely 'alive', and being alive meant that time itself was precious and limited, for all things alive must one day die. And she felt her heart ache at the sight of the animal's pain.

She stepped closer, and knelt down beside Owen.

He could see the tears in her eyes, and he saw that she finally understood. She finally realized that these animals were more than just attractions and profit. She finally saw the true wonder of these creatures.

Claire reached out her hand towards the animal, and then pulled it back again, without touching it. In her heart she felt 'unworthy' in some way. She had been so blind, and cold. She had been so emotionally detached from what was right in front of her. And for a moment she realized that she was not just thinking about the dinosaur… She finally realized that she was managing this park, and her life, all wrong… She was following her head, not her heart.

Owen took her hand in his, and placed it on the animal's head, with his own hand on top of hers.

She felt the animal's tough skin, she felt the animal's muscles as it barely breathed, she saw the despair in its eyes, and a warm tear ran down her cheek.

Owen gazed upon her, and in that moment, he knew he had never felt this way about anyone before… He knew he really liked her... He knew he would do anything for her… He knew he loved her.

She looked up at him, and asked "She's dying, isn't she?"

He wanted to lie to her. He didn't want her to know. But he couldn't lie... Not to _her_.

He looked at her, and nodded, cursing himself as a few new tears ran down her face.

Claire stroked the dinosaur, and a moment later, it took its last breath.

She fought back the tears as hard as she could, succeeding for the most part.

Owen stood up, stretched out his hand, and helped her up.

"Now, get to the car. It's dangerous out here." he said firmly. He knew she was upset but he had to think about their safety.

She stubbornly replied "If _you_ are out here, then _I_ am out here."

He stepped closer to her, gripped her arm softly, and started leading her to the jeep, ordering her " _No._ You are going _back_ to the compound. I will find your nephews and bring them back. I can't worry about you while I'm out here looking for them. Now, take the jeep, and go back to the…"

She tried to rip her arm out of his grip, but he tightened his hold on her, and she swung her body trying to free herself, but they ended up with her hands on his chest, and both his hands gripping her arms, holding her in place. She interrupted him "I'm staying!"

He pulled her closer, his lips almost touching her nose, and he tensely and annoyedly gritted through his teeth " _I_ _wasn't_ _asking._ Get your ass in that jeep… _now._ "

She lifted her chin, stood on her toes slightly, raised her chest towards him a bit, stared directly into his eyes, and defiantly whispered "…no…I'm staying _here_ , with _you_ …"

He stared at her, realizing how badly he wanted to throw her over his shoulder and lock her in the jeep, and how badly he wanted to tell her that he loved her in that exact moment.

She didn't break eye contact, and neither did he.

Then finally, he lowered his head in defeat, and lifted it again. "Alright. But stay close to me and do exactly as I say."

She nodded and got in the jeep. He got in to the driver side.

Then he started the car, and turned toward her, and light-heartedly said "Don't think, just because I like you, I'm gonna allow you to boss me around all the time… Otherwise I will just have to show you who the alpha is in this relationship" followed by a small naughty smile.

She turned her head away from him, and a small smile appeared on her face as she thought … _Well_ _, at the moment, it looks like I am.._.

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They drove over the entire Northern section of the park, but they couldn't find the boys anywhere.

Then Owen spotted a broken fence which led to the restricted area of the Northern part of the Island.

"We have to go in there. They might have gone that way." Owen said concerned, and secretly began to worry a lot more than he had originally. He knew that not many dinosaurs could break through those fences, and the one that he suspected did, might still be there, and that would mean that, if the kids went that way, they would be heading right for it. He did his best to keep his concerns hidden from Claire. There was no need to jump to any conclusions just yet. But they needed to find Zach and Gray as fast as they could, before something else found them first.

Claire looked into the dark shadows of the woods down the path that her nephews could have possibly taken, and she was scared. But she didn't want Owen to see it. She bravely replied "Then let's go. We need to find them."

Owen slowly drove into the woods, and Claire reached over and took his hand that was resting on the shifter, grasping it tightly, and he firmly yet tenderly closed his hand around hers.

 **NOTE: I actually started this chapter with Zach and Gray in the gyrosphere, but then I thought I would rather focus on Owen and Claire. Because that is what I really want to write about. Besides, a lot of scenes in the movie, I would also like to keep unchanged in this fanfic. I just want to add my Owen / Claire version to it ;-)**


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

 **Just quickly, to the guy / girl who asked me about my first language: My first language is actually Afrikaans. But everyone in my country (South Africa) can speak English, at least, to some extent. I personally try to keep my English skills above average. But I still struggle with a few things like when to use 'toward' or 'towards', or when to use 'laying' or 'lying', those type of things. That's why I always indicate that English is not my first language because I don't want to look like an illiterate jackass ;-)**

 **Okay, cool.**

 **I was a little hesitant about the last chapter, but I think it went okay.**

 **Let's see what I do with this one.**

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The Northern part of the Island had more a woods-like feel than a pure jungle one, and the plants and trees varied from bright greens to dark browns, with eerie shadows dancing over the woods-like floor as the jeep drove in further on the path the boys might have taken.

Then they saw it.

Before Owen could properly stop the car, Claire jumped out and rushed towards the broken metal structure. Glass and metal were shattered everywhere and Claire felt her whole body shut down as her worst fears came into existence like some disgusting hound summoned from the depths of hell. "…no…" the word was no more than a whisper as she saw the gyroshpere in front of her, completely destroyed and ripped apart. A dark and cold emptiness invaded her soul, as she knew that her nephews were dead, and she sank to her knees.

Owen was a naturally more observant person, more practical, and from the moment he stopped the jeep he already noticed numerous things. Yes, there was a gyrosphere in front of them, yes, it was completely destroyed, yes, the situation looked really bad, but, there was no blood anywhere, and at least for the time being, that was a good sign.

Claire emotions shut down as she tried to grasp the idea of the possibility that her nephews were torn to pieces, and that it was all her fault. Owen saw she was losing herself as she sank deeper into the ground, and he fiercely pulled her on her feet.

She semi hysterically beat his chest and said "No! Leave me! It's my fault!"

"They're alive!" he yelled at her, gripping both her shoulders, more aggressively than he wanted to, mostly in an attempt to try and get through to her before she hurt either of them, or before she drove herself crazy for real. She stopped instantly, and stared shockingly at him, and her eyes were wide and desperate "What?" she choked out.

Owen released his tight grip on her, and gently slid his hands down her arms a bit, keeping a firm eye on her, making sure she was calm. He steadily spoke to her "They got out. Look…" and he pointed at the two sets of footprints engraved in the mud a few feet away from them.

She looked at the footprints, and then at him, and he instantly saw her regain control of her body and her senses. He flashed her a quick we're-gonna-be-okay smile, and said "Follow me."

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The footprints lead to a nearby waterfall. As they came to the waterfall, Claire instantly noticed how beautiful it was, and how she again realized, yet again, how many simple and beautiful things she had ignored in her life. She stopped and looked down at the water, and said in a low whisper "…it's beautiful…" then she saw how high it was and panic instantly set in once more "…oh my God, do you think they jumped?".

Owen was keeping his eyes wide open, and listening for anything that sounded like it might be stalking them. He turned to her, and stepped closer to the edge of the waterfall, scanning all other possible routes her nephews might have taken, and answered "Yeah, I think they did. Brave kids... really brave."

He lightly grabbed her by her arm and said "Okay, you need to get back to the compound."

Her mouth gaped open and she pushed him away from her slightly "No. You are not starting with this again. These are _my_ nephews and I am staying out here with you."

He frowned at her and replied in a rather serious tone of voice "You won't last 5 minutes out here."

"Why, because I'm a girl?" she knew that was the most idiotic thing she has ever said, but it just kind of slipped out before she could stop herself.

He just stared at her for a moment, completely speechless.

Then she undid her belt and blouse, Owen watching her intensely and very curious to see where she was going with this display of undress, and she rolled up her sleeves.

Owen was extremely confused, and asked sarcastically "What was _that_?"

She took a deep breath and replied confidently "I'm ready to go."

He wanted to make a cheeky comment, but decided to rather defuse any current tensions between them and simply replied "…oh, okay… but out here you do exactly as I say."

She walked passed him, and replied plainly, with a hint of sarcasm to his complete surprize, "Yeah, I know, alpha male, got it."

He watched her, threw his gun over his shoulder, and enthusiastically followed her deeper into the jungle.

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"Are you sure you can walk in those?" he asked as they continued walking.

She looked down at her shoes, and replied annoyedly "I walk in high heels every day, why would it be a problem now?"

He commented with a sarcastic undertone "Because you're in the middle of the jungle, on a rescue mission, with a genetically modified hybrid on the loose. Something tells me that is not a _normal_ work day for you."

She replied, a bit irritated "I'm also traveling with a man that really likes to push my buttons."

He smirked and replied "Thank God _that_ is not a normal work day for you…"

She paused for a moment and considered his words. She looked at him and saw his naughty little smirk and she felt her body stir a bit. Before she would allow her cheeks to turn a light shade of pink, she changed the subject "So where do you think they went?"

He knew she caught his innocently dirty little comment, but there were actually more important matters at hand then flirting with his love interest in the middle of a dinosaur invested jungle, such as finding her two nephews that could be in a lot of trouble as they spoke.

He looked around and replied "The old park building is right up ahead. My guess is, if they are still out here, then that's where they would go."

She felt her heart lighten a bit and she sincerely replied "God, I hope you are right."

She glanced at him, and he saw the worry overtake her again, and he replied with a warm smile "I'm always right."

Even though she knew he couldn't truly guarantee that he was right, the gesture and effort he made to put her at ease, made her worries disappear, at least for a few moments.

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About fifteen minutes later, they caught a glimpse of the old park building.

Owen stopped, and took in the building and the echo of history that clung to it.

Claire stood next to him, and the next thing he felt was her hand desperately holding his.

 **Note: Cool for now. I actually think I did a better job with this Chapter.**


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10**

 **A big thanks to everyone who is still reading my fanfic and to everyone who is following it, favoured it, and who wrote reviews.**

 **Now, I will be staying with the events of the film as far as possible, but I am going to change it a little. This is an Owen / Claire fanfic, and I really want to focus on them.**

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He looked at her, as they stood in front of the old park building, her still holding his hand.

She looked at him, and a naughty-school-boy smile appeared on his face as he looked at their hands still clenched in each other's. He knew it would be really bad timing to comment on the current situation, but he couldn't help it, and maybe in a way, he wanted to settle the fear stirring in both of them "So, I guess this means you want to go steady?" he said, still smiling.

She pulled her hand away awkwardly, and starting walking toward the entrance, but he moved in front of her, blocking her path. "No. You stay outside. I mean it."

She rose her voice "Oh God, you are _not_ doing this _again_!"

He lowered his head closer to hers and whispered "Listen, those kids are still alive, but you and I will not be if you continue to scream like that."

She furiously, but quietly replied "Then stop treating me like one of your damn _animals_."

He actually felt a bit offended by her comment. He leaned in closer to her and said in a serious tone of voice "I will _never_ treat you like an animal", then he leaned in even closer to her and his lips were touching the side of her cheekbone, and then his tone lightened to a more playfully seductive tone "…unless you ask me to." he pulled away from her, and he saw her mouth gaped open just slightly and her breathing hitched for a second.

Then they heard something stir in back of the building and they both quickly turned back to the door.

Owen got his gun, and aimed it at the door, "Alright, stay close." he said to Claire as they slowly walked up the stairs.

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The old building was completely ruined and overgrown with plants and shrubs, and yet, it had an unmistakable beauty to it. Claire took it all in and a small breath escaped her lips as she remembered what Mr Masrani had once told her _"Why did we build this park? To remind us how truly small we are, and to allow us to see how many wonders the world still has to offer."_

Owen's deep voice broke her thoughts "There's something in the back…"

She whispered "Do you think it's the boys?"

Owen nodded, silently hoping for the best.

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"Zach, we can't just stay here. We need to get back to the resort." Gray told his older brother.

"Shhh… I think I heard something." Zach said as he thoroughly listened to the sounds that echoed through the old building.

Then they heard cracking and breaking of leaves and twigs. Zach placed his index finger on his lips, gesturing Gray to be quiet. He waved his little brother to hide behind one of the counters in the old garage building where they currently were.

Zach bravely, and stupidly, walked toward the broken down door and Gray whispered "Zach, no…"

Zach looked at his little brother and whispered in reply "Don't worry… I just need to check what it is…."

He peered around the corner and the next thing Gray heard was Zach yelling…

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"What the _hell?!_ " Zach yelled as Owen's gun was pointing at his face. Owen lowered it instantly.

Claire ran passed Owen and hugged Zach intensely "Oh thank God!" she said as she hugged him even tighter. Zach actually felt a bit weird with his aunt's new found affection for her nephews, but decided to allow her the moment of family reunion.

Gray came out from hiding and said, "…Aunt Claire?"

Claire released her hold on Zach and grabbed Gray, squeezing him just as tightly as she did his brother a moment ago "Thank God! I was so worried!"

Owen scanned around the garage for anything they could use, while also keeping an eye out for any possible dangers. He saw the jeeps and said "I think we should try to start one of these. We need to get out of here and our jeep is too far away now."

Claire replied "That's impossible. That jeep is 20 years old, if not more. You will never get it to start."

Owen remarked coyly "Well, I recently got a stubborn lady started, and I haven't heard her complain yet…" and for a moment both Owen and Claire forgot the kids were standing right next to them.

Claire's mouth dropped and she replied fiercely "Would you stop _that_ , please?"

Gray frowned and Zach smirked as he instantly saw what was going on, and he innocently asked "Who is your _friend,_ Claire?" actually stating that he knew perfectly well that 'friend' was a relatively loose term for his aunt and this guy.

Before Claire could answer, or at least make up an appropriate answer, Owen actually stretched out his hand to the teenager and shook it "Hey dude, I'm Owen." Then Owen stretched out his hand to Gray and did the same thing, and a warm feeling came over Claire's heart at the sight of Owen's kind and warm hearted nature toward her nephews.

Zach liked this guy already, and so did Gray.

Then they heard a loud thump.

Owen grabbed Zach and Gray by the shoulders and shoved them under one of the counters, covering them with an old dusty sail, and he pulled Claire down next to him as they crouched behind one of the old jeeps.

Then they saw it.

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The Indominus Rex was right outside the garage door.

Owen was crouched in front of Claire, and he felt her arms around his waist as she unknowingly grabbed hold of his body when they went down. She held him tightly and buried her face in his back, and he felt a sense of worthiness, a worthiness to protect her, a worthiness to care for her, a worthiness to love her.

The Rex lowered its head into the open door of the old garage and took a few deep sniffs.

Owen had his gun close by, and if the worst should happen, he could at least try and shoot the animal in the head, as it was at a semi disadvantage due to the garage's lack of room to completely manoeuvre freely.

The animal forced its head deeper into the garage, and Owen hoped that it won't pick up their scents.

It did, but it couldn't see them.

Owen steadied his gun.

Claire gripped Owen tighter.

Zach and Gray were silent in fear.

The Rex forced its head in deeper, and then…

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The chopper flew over.

The Rex heard the roar of the propeller and quickly pulled out its head, turned around and started running and following the airborne metal object.

Zach and Gray remained in their hiding spot a moment longer.

Behind the jeep, Owen and Claire breathed a sigh of relief, but Claire's arms remained around Owen's waist, and at that moment, he truly didn't want it any other way.

Zach slowly got out from under the old sail and counter, followed by Gray.

Gray stood up and looked at his aunt, and plainly asked "Aunt Claire, what are you doing?" as he saw his aunt gripping Owen.

Claire stared at Gray, then looked at Owen.

Owen glanced over his shoulder at her, and smiled amusedly at what action she might take next.

She pulled her arms away from him and got up "Nothing… nothing." was all she could manage to answer her nephew.

Zach grinned, and so did Owen.

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They searched through the garage, and finally found an old car battery.

Zach handed it to Owen "You think this will work?"

Owen took it and studied the battery for a moment "Yeah, I think it will."

Gray was standing next to his brother, observing everything.

"I need to call control. We need to know what's going on." Claire said and got out her phone, but she had really bad reception in the garage and she didn't want to wonder out.

Zach decided this was the perfect time to lighten the mood "So Claire, _where_ _did_ you go last night?"

Owen and Claire glanced at Zach, but with two completely different expressions on their faces, Claire completely stunned and horrified, and Owen completely entertained.

Gray also stepped closer for the conversation.

Owen glanced at Claire, eagerly and amusedly awaiting her response to her nephew's question.

Claire pressed her lips, forcing a smile "Nowhere. I just went out for some…" she wanted to say 'air' but Owen wouldn't allow her the opportunity, so he answered "…coffee…" and Claire's cheeks turned a deep pinkish colour, and her nephews noticed it instantly.

Zach let out a small laugh, and so did Owen, and Gray just politely asked "Why would you go out for coffee, aunt Claire? You can just call room service and they will bring it to you, won't they?"

Owen almost couldn't contain his smirk, and it actually hurt his face a bit.

Zach sneakily glanced at his aunt and at Owen and replied dryly, with a subtle grin, enjoying his aunt's discomfort to the fullest, "Well, Gray, maybe aunt Claire wanted a _special kind_ of coffee… You know, the _rugged caveman with broad shoulders_ type of coffee…" Zach couldn't wait for his aunt's response.

Claire almost choked on her own saliva, and Owen's smile grew instantly and his eyebrows tilted upwards in surprize.

Gray just replied innocently "Oh…" realizing, even at his young age, that Zach was referring to their aunt sneaking out the previous night to see Owen.

Claire interrupted the conversation before it could get any worse, which she honestly didn't know how it possibly could "Let's just focus on getting the jeep started."

Owen smirked and he and Zach continued working on the jeep.

After a few minutes Owen told Gray, "Let's see if it worked. Start it up."

Gray jumped in behind the wheel and turned the key, and to everyone's surprize, the jeep instantly started.

Owen turned to Zach "Nice job, dude".

Zach just nodded with a cool it-was-nothing smile.

Claire looked at Owen, and he said "Get in."

The four of them got into the jeep and drove out into the woods.

 **Note: I think it was okay ;-)**


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

 **Thanks to everyone for reading my story.**

 **And I probably should have mentioned earlier that my fanfic contains spoilers. So I hope I didn't ruin anything for anyone.**

 **Okay now, at this point in the movie, Mr Masrani and two soldiers are in the helicopter trailing the Indominus Rex, and then the Rex breaks through the pterosaur aviary, which doesn't end very well for the people on board. I am still going to follow those events BUT it all happens very fast in the movie (probably to keep up the action, which is cool), and I am going to draw it out a little bit. The reason I want to do that is because I want the four characters in the jeep (to have some time) to interact with each other a little before all hell breaks loose.**

 **So in this story, Owen and Claire and her two nephews are in the jeep on their way back to the resort. The chopper already flew over, but it won't be crashing and burning just yet.**

 **Cool.**

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"Lowery, we found the Indominus near the old park area. I think the helicopter is already following it." Claire said on the phone, trying her best to speak loudly against the wind breezing through the open jeep.

"Mr Masrani made the call to terminate the asset. He is flying the chopper and there are two or three soldiers with him." Lowery informed Claire.

"What? He is going to _terminate_ it?" Claire wasn't protesting to the idea at all, it was just a bit surprizing considering the fact that Mr Masrani was not the kind of person to take extreme measures, especially extreme measures that might negatively impact a company financially, unless he absolutely needed to.

"Yeah. Apparently they bolted a M134 machine gun to the helicopter and went after it. Are you okay? Did you find your nephews?" Lowery asked sincerely.

"We found them. We're fine. We're on our way back to the resort." and then she hung up the phone.

The mid-day sun was high in the sky and for a moment Claire couldn't believe how this day had turned out. Yesterday she was sent to unwillingly enlist the services of Mr Grady, realizing that moment that she had no choice but to call him by his first name from now on since she would be fooling herself if she thought that their relationship was still a 'business' one, and today she is running through the jungle in high heels from a genetically modified animal, searching for her two nephews she hadn't seen in almost ten years. She took a deep breath and tried to focus her thoughts on getting back to the resort.

Owen kept his eyes on the road, keeping his hands firmly on the wheel, occasionally glancing at the boys in the back seat, and Claire next to him, just to make sure everyone was still alive and breathing. He knew that it was important to follow the chopper and that he needed to make sure they killed the Indominus, so he stopped the jeep.

"What are you doing?" Claire asked concerned.

"You take the jeep. Go back to the resort. I need to follow the Rex. I will catch up with you." Owen reached for his gun in the back seat, grabbed it, opened the door and started to get out.

Zach and Gray wanted to protest immediately, but before they could stop him, Claire grabbed his arm tightly "No! There is _no point_ in you going after it! The helicopter is tracking it and they _will_ kill it."

He caressingly placed his hand over her hand gripping his arm, and spoke to her affectionately "Don't worry. Nothing will happen. Just get back to the resort and wait for me."

Claire stared silently at him. _What the hell is wrong with you?... Can't you see I don't want you to go?… Can't you see I care about you?... that I like you…that I,…don't think it Claire…that I,… love you…You stubborn idiot…_ her inner voices screaming violently at her.

Before she could nod 'yes' in defeat and let him go off into the jungle, Gray's voice came from the backseat "I don't want you to go either…"

Zach felt the same, but he remained silent, just staring at Owen with a subtle I-agree-with-Gray stare.

Owen was actually stunned. He couldn't believe that he had made such a good impression on Zach and Gray that, considering that they barely just met, they actually didn't want him to leave them, they actually felt better with him around, that they actually trusted him. And it felt awesome.

He looked at the kids, and then at Claire, who were all staring at him with that please-get-back-in-the-jeep stare, and he removed his gun and climbed back into the jeep "Alright... But control needs to keep us informed. It's still a way back to the resort, so we need to know where the animal is so that we don't run into any more trouble." Claire nodded as he started the car and started to drive back to the resort.

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They were on the road for about ten minutes.

Owen glanced over at Claire and casually asked "So, you didn't want me to leave? Guess that means you kind of care about what happens to me…"

She turned her head towards him, her eyes focused on his, being careful not to give away anything she truly felt. She had no idea what was stopping her from just confessing her feelings. _You're just scared Claire… Don't be… What is the worst that can happen?... He likes you… Just tell him already…_ her inner feelings were tearing her apart, and she just wanted to tell him, but she remained silent.

He pursed his lips in a 'huh, that's really interesting' expression, being careful not to overstep her boundaries. She turned her head away, hoping in all honesty that this won't turn out to be another awkward conversation… It did.

Then Owen continued "So, _rugged caveman,_ huh?..." he amusedly and cheerfully commented, with a smirk already dancing on his lips.

She turned her head back to him, and tilted her head a bit, and slightly sarcastically replied with a small fake smile, keeping the butterflies in her stomach carefully at bay "Don't worry about it. It's nothing."

Just then Zach, noticing that his aunt was not being honest with Owen at all, or with herself for that matter, poked his head in between Owen and Claire from the back, and plainly said "No it's not…"

Claire almost pulled a muscle as she quickly glanced at Zach, speechless, her eyes widened "Zach!" she yelled, but without any aggression in her voice, just a bit startled and unprepared for what was most likely to follow.

Zach had Owen's full attention now and he casually continued "We overheard her conversation with our mom last night… She told her about how you asked her to _dinner_ , how you are _so sweet_ , and most shocking, how she _kissed_ you and that it was so _good_ …" Zach couldn't help his smirk growing as he continued.

Owen grinned and replied, or rather stated, optimistically "Really?" glancing at her with a naughty little grin.

Claire wanted to strangle her nephew, especially considering everything he was telling Owen, was the absolute unadulterated truth, a truth that she didn't want Owen to know.

Zach continued "Owen, you should know, our aunt Claire here is a little shy…" and he proceeded to slap Owen's chest twice, very lightly "…but basically, she's totally crushing on you dude…"

Claire was sitting there, speechless.

Owen smiled, actually not believing the things Zach was telling him. He _knew_ she must have felt _something_ for him, although he couldn't be completely sure, but he _never_ expected her to _admit_ that she did, and to her own sister no less. He could feel his heart ache passionately at this new revelation.

Gray frowned as he couldn't understand what all the fuss was all about. Owen liked his aunt, his aunt liked Owen, it was completely obvious, even though they made it seem otherwise, so what was the big deal? But then again, Gray was not a teenager yet, and he couldn't quite yet comprehend that when you get a chance to give your aunt a hard time for not spending enough time with you and your little brother, you take it.

Claire turned her head to Zach, who was sitting back down in the backseat, and she gave him a why-did-you-tell-him-that look. Zach just amusedly smiled at her.

Owen wanted to explore the conversation a bit more, but he could see she was embarrassed about her nephew exposing her feelings for him. He could also clearly see that her actions indeed confirmed that what her nephew was telling him was unmistakably true, and even though Owen thought it was extremely amazing and wonderful, he didn't want to make her any more uncomfortable by teasing her about it, and honestly, the things he wanted to do to her did not include anything as childish as teasing. So he turned to Claire, and took her hand in his, keeping their hands rested on the shifter, keeping his other on the wheel. He looked at her as he squeezed her hand gently, and he sweetly replied "That's great dude… because I'm totally crushing on her too." Claire looked at him, completely forgetting her embarrassment, and he smiled warmly at her. She felt her heart lighten up with a passionate loving glow and she slightly squeezed his hand back.

Then Zach added, with a charming grin on his face "Yeah dude, _that_ ' _s_ pretty obvious too." Claire looked at Owen, and smiled, and he smiled back at her. Then she glanced at Zach, and gave him a smirk, and a smile was tugging at his own lips, and at that moment she realized that, even though he was still a teenager now, he would soon be grown up, and she promised herself right there that from now on she would actively make sure she spent more time with her family.

Gray's voice came from the backseat, stating a random fact rather than expecting an answer from anyone "Why is it so hard for people to just say what they feel?"

Claire glanced at Gray. Gray just kept staring out into the jungle and the road. Zach chuckled a bit at his younger brother's remark.

Then Owen looked at her, and said softly "…I have no idea…"

Claire looked at him, and smiled at Owen.

Just then Claire's phone rang, and she hesitantly let go of Owen's hand, and picked it up.

"Lowery, what's going on?" she asked as she saw Lowery's number.

"Mr Masrani is dead, Claire. The helicopter crashed into the aviary." he reluctantly informed her.

Her mouth gaped open and her eyes started to water up, but she kept her voice steady "Oh my God…"

Lowery continued "But we have a bigger problem. A flock of pterosaurs escaped and are heading for the resort."

"We're on our way." and she hung up the phone and told Owen to speed up.

 **Note: I really hope this wasn't corny. I tried to make it cute, light-hearted and romantic. I really hope it worked.**


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12 - re-post : sorry guys had to fix some spelling errors, hope that's all of them**

 **Thank you to everyone for reviews, follows and favourites, and to everyone reading.**

 **Okay, I actually have no freaking idea how to do this chapter, because Owen and Claire are actually quite separated in the next few scenes in the movie. But I am going to try my best.**

 **Here goes.**

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It was utter chaos, people were screaming and the pterosaurs were everywhere, attacking everyone.

Owen drove the jeep on the main road that lead into the middle of the resort and brought it to an abrupt stop. Terrified people were running passed and the only words that escaped Claire's lips as she saw them running by, were "Oh my God…"

Zach and Gray was scared, and Owen saw it, and he decided the safest place for them at the moment was right where they were "You two stay in the jeep. Claire, come with me." and Claire instantly jumped out of the jeep, following Owen loyally.

Claire tried to keep up with Owen as they were running down the path to the centre of the resort "We need to call control! We need to find out where the Rex is!" he yelled backwards to Claire over the screaming hysterical people.

Just then a pterosaur dived down towards them and Owen grabbed Claire by the shoulders, forcing her body downwards roughly. Their bodies hit the gravel hard as the dinosaur flew over their heads. Claire had her hands over her head for a second, then she looked up at Owen lying next to her, whose hand was still on her back holding her down slightly. Owen looked around and then at Claire, "It looks clear" he said and stood up, then helped her up. Just then Owen saw the Jurassic World security sector running up the path with guns and he turned to Claire, yelling at her over all the commotion "I need to help them! Call control and find out where the Rex is! We need to find it and kill it!" Claire nodded and ran to a nearby outdoor bar, and crouched down behind it while Owen ran toward the security personnel.

Claire grabbed her phone and dialled control "Lowery! We're outside the building! Owen says we need to find the Indominus! Where is she?!" she spoke as loudly as she could as thousands of screaming and terrified people were still running passed her.

Lowery whispered "Claire, something's going on. Don't come to the control room."

Claire could barely hear him over all the noise, but amazingly she did "Why?!"

Lowery continued quietly "This military guy Hoskins showed up. He has this insane idea to use the raptors to track the Indominus. And with Mr Masrani gone, he can basically do whatever he wants to 'contain' the situation. At least _that_ is the current authority Ingen just gave him."

Claire responded without considering her words "That son of a bitch!" she continued "Stay in the control room as long as possible! Keep an eye on him! We will do what we can from our end!"

Lowery hung up and so did she, then she turned and thought _I need to find Owen, now!_

She looked up and saw Owen a few feet away from her. He was with the security sector guards, shooting and bringing down most of the pterosaurs with tranquilizer guns.

Suddenly Owen felt claws gripping at his back and he was driven to the floor very hard and very fast.

Claire saw the winged dinosaur attack Owen from behind and fear overtook her for a moment, but only for a moment. Something came over her and she started to run toward him, not knowing what the hell she was doing or going to do when she got there.

Owen's back was on fire as the claws dug into his back. As the pterosaur took flight for a moment, Owen managed to quickly turn around on his back, but there was no time to grab his gun as the dinosaur went for him again. He grabbed the animal firmly by the head, keeping its jaws and teeth away from his face, and trying his best to push it off of him, at least enough to keep its teeth at a distance, but he was rapidly starting to lose his grip, and he realized it with each passing second.

As Claire was running towards Owen, she spotted his tranquilizer gun lying next to him, and she instantly went for it and picked it up fiercely.

The next thing Owen saw was something hitting the animal hard in the face and it let out a small yelp of pain, then it rolled off of him, and darts were flying into its chest. He looked up and saw her, with her bright auburn hair, torn clothes, and high heels, with the tranquilizer gun in her hand, breathing heavily and staring at him.

Claire didn't know how she did that, but the important thing was that Owen was temporarily out of danger, and she tried to catch her breath again.

He stared at her, hardly believing what she had done, and more accurately, what she had done to save him.

Claire stepped towards him and stretched out her hand to him, gesturing for him to take it.

He looked at her hand, grabbed it tightly and got up from the ground.

She looked at him.

He looked at her.

Then, for no reason whatsoever, she smiled at him and proudly, and a bit mockingly, said "It looked like you needed some help, _caveman_ …"

His heart was overwhelmingly on fire with different emotions of passion stirring in him at the sound of her words, and he fiercely grabbed her by her top and aggressively pulled her closer to him, his nose touching hers, her hands clasped his upper arms, and he said in a masculine voice "Thank God you were here to save me" and he pulled her fiercely into his body and crashed his lips onto hers. She felt all the chaos around them melt away as she parted her lips slightly, and he seductively slid his tongue forcefully over her lips and into her mouth. His hands lowered to her hips and grabbed hold of them tightly, and she moaned against his mouth, moving her hands upwards from his arms and finally wrapping her arms completely around his neck and pulling him down harder towards her so that their bodies were grinding against each other.

Their moment of passion was coarsely interrupted by Zach's yelling voice "I don't think this is the best time for _that_!"

Claire and Owen quickly pulled away from each other and looked at Zach, and it was completely evident that he had caught them extremely off guard. Then Owen replied "He's right! Let's go!" and he grabbed Claire's hand and ran in Zach's direction, and they headed for the jeep to find Gray.

When they got to the jeep Claire told Owen "Wait! Lowery said that a guy named Hoskins is going to use the raptors to track the Indominus! We need to get to the raptor enclosure!"

Owen, Claire and Zach got into the jeep and found Gray sitting motionlessly in the backseat where they left him.

Owen turned to Claire, as he closed his door, all the noise from outside not affecting them anymore "What did you say?"

Claire closed her door, sighed and hesitantly replied "Hoskins is going to use the raptors to track the Indominus."

Owen's eyes wondered for a moment and then he said in realization "Son of a bitch!"

Gray leaned over from the backseat and said "You shouldn't say _bitch_."

Claire replied "We need to get to that enclosure before they release the raptors."

Owen started the car, and drove in the direction of the raptor enclosure as fast as he could.

 **Note: I know guys, there is not a lot happening in this chapter. Sorry about that. I am just struggling a bit because the next few scenes are basically all action scenes and I want to keep those scenes exactly like they happen in the movie (because they are awesome), but there is actually no real room for interaction between Owen and Claire if I follow the events of the movie. But I will do my best to write something cool. I might just take a bit longer posting the next chapter, but we will see.**


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER 13 : re-post - sorry guys, needed to fix spaces between words that looked weird**

 **Firstly, thanks to everyone who gave me ideas on how to continue with the next couple of scenes.**

 **Secondly, thanks again for all the reviews, favourites and follows and to everyone reading.**

 **Okay, so in this chapter Owen and Claire, and Claire's nephews, arrive at the raptor enclosure.**

 **Let's see if I still have a few tricks up my sleeve.**

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"Are they really gonna use the raptors to hunt that hybrid dinosaur?" Zach asked from the back seat.

"They're gonna _try_." Owen commented, driving as fast as he could to the raptor enclosure. All he kept thinking was that if Hoskins hurt his animals, he would kick his teeth in. He didn't put all that time and effort into building a relationship of trust with the raptors for that jerkoff Hoskins to simply come in and ruin it for the purposes of his psychotic field test.

Claire glanced back at her nephews in the back seat, and the realization struck her that she was actually acting like a worried paranoid parent, and to her surprize, it actually felt okay. It didn't feel awkward or terrifying, it felt more natural and fulfilling in a way, and for a second she knew exactly what Karen was always talking about.

Owen glanced at her, and he saw she was deep in thought, and he placed his hand firmly on her leg, ripping her out of her thoughts, and tenderly said "Claire, you still with me?"

She snapped back to reality and replied "Yes, I'm here."

He quickly glanced back at the kids "You two still okay back there?"

Gray and Zach both replied "Yeah, we're good."

Then they saw lights up ahead as they reached the enclosure. Owen stopped the car, and both him and Claire got out into the cold night air.

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Hoskins and his men were already crawling all over the place. He turned around at the sound of a jeep breaking, and noticed Owen getting out of the car and walking hastily towards him and Hoskins mocked "Well, well, the mother hen finally decided to show up."

Owen's raw animal instincts took hold of him and as he walked up to Hoskins, he pulled back his fist and drove it hard into Hoskins's jaw. The brute force of his punch sent Hoskins staggering backwards a few steps.

Owen could see in Hoskins's eyes that he wanted to retaliate, but he also knew Hoskins was not entirely as stupid as he looked, and that Hoskins would not retaliate unless he wanted to end up with numerous broken bones along with his already swollen jaw.

Claire quickly walked up to them and she clearly saw Owen hitting Hoskins, and suddenly her own animal instincts were as alive as Owen's, as if he had telepathically awoken another side to her, a predatory side, an alpha female side that was purely unpredictable and animalistic, and she stopped right in front of Hoskins, her chin up and chest challengingly outward, and confronted Hoskins further "What _the hell_ do you think you are doing?! These animals belong to the park! You are not going to use them for some insane war experiment!"

Hoskins turned spitefully toward her, Owen already stepping closer to Claire and taking a protective stance next to her, and Hoskins sarcastically and viciously commented "Oh, so now _you're_ his _pet_ too." Claire's muscles in her arms cringed at his disrespectful tone of voice, and Owen kept a close eye on Hoskins, his muscles also tensing up rapidly. Hoskins saw he struck a nerve with both Owen and Claire, and he vulgarly continued "God you lovebirds need to wake up! This is _why_ we started this raptor program in the first place! It was _never_ to entertain Masrani's _childish_ _fantasies_ of family fun! That's just horseshit! It was so that the _military_ could use these animals in _warfare_! But I guess you two had _other_ things on your minds lately..." and Claire wanted to scratch that disgustingly repulsive grin of his obnoxious oversized face.

Owen moved forward, literally seconds away from strangling this overweight asshole, then Claire's unexpected comment caught him off guard for a second, "Hoskins, you are a _manipulative_ _liar_ and… _a…fucking…coward!_ " Claire felt the words sting her lips as it aggressively oozed from her mouth, but it felt good, it felt cruel, and it felt empowering.

Hoskins, with his already dented ego and bruised jaw, courtesy of Owen Grady's fist, decided he was not going to take this insubordination from Owen's new stuck-up-high-and-mighty-corporate-bitch -girlfriend, and his temper roared out of control as he grabbed her violently by the arm "You bitch! You don't talk to me like that!"

Worst mistake he ever made.

Owen brutally grabbed hold of Hoskins's wrist gripping Claire's arm, and viciously forced it painfully open, and Hoskins let out a torturous scream and he immediately let go of Claire's arm, but there was no way in hell Owen was finished with this pig. He cruelly kicked Hoskins in the back of the knee, bringing Hoskins to the ground rapidly. Hoskins's face hit the dirt hard, and Owen swiftly twisted Hoskins's arm around his body so that it was behind his back, pushing Hoskins's muscles and pressure points to their limits. Then Owen inhumanely snapped Hoskins's wrist upward with no remorse, and even Claire could hear Hoskins's arm break in more places than one. Hoskins let out a high pitch yell of agony.

Owen drove his knee savagely into Hoskins's back, and Hoskins cringed in pain. Owen lowered his head so that the uncivilized military douchebag could hear his every word "If you _ever_ touch her again, I will break _more_ than just your arm. Do you understand me?" his voice was hoarse, cold and malicious. Claire had never heard Owen use _that_ voice before, and it scared her. It actually terrified her. It wasn't that she was scared of Owen, not in the least, but it was more the way he ferociously protected her, without hesitation and with no regard for his own safety, that terrified her.

Hoskins nodded and choked out in pain "Yes! I understand!"

Owen got up, leaving Hoskins in the dirt, with a broken arm and bruised body, and he quickly went towards Claire, his anger and coldness melting away as his eyes fell on her. Claire was just standing there, a bit wide eyed and startled.

She was a bit unprepared for Hoskins's violent outburst, and for a moment, she was slightly rattled and out of breath. Owen's caring voice touched her ears "Claire, are you okay?" and his hands grasp her upper arms affectionately.

She was pulled away from her thoughts, and looked up at him and tried to sound strong "Yeah… yeah, I'm good. Just a bit bruised, but good..."

Owen pulled her a bit closer, one hand grasping her arm lightly, and the other cupped her face gently and he leaned in and gave her a soft quick kiss on her forehead.

Just then Owen's colleague and friend, Barry, stepped closer, after witnessing the physical incident between Owen and Hoskins, and the unfamiliar woman "That _bastard_! You should have _killed_ him! Are you alright, miss?" he asked Claire, and she pulled away from Owen and nodded to Barry with a tiny smile.

Owen hesitantly let go of Claire, but still looking at her, and said "I need to talk to Barry for a minute. Can you go back to the jeep? I will be there in a second."

Claire shook off all the uneasy emotions still in her system and replied "Sure. I need to check on Zach and Gray anyway."

Owen nodded and smiled at her as she turned around and headed for the jeep.

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Barry turned to Owen, who was intensely following Claire with his eyes as she walked to the jeep, as if she would break into a thousand little pieces at any moment, and Barry instantly noticed something in Owen he hadn't before, something different, something new, and asked curiously "Who's the girl?"

Owen continued watching Claire until she reached the jeep, and when he was satisfied she was safe for the moment, he turned to Barry and casually replied "She's the park's operation manager. I helped her find her nephews."

Barry pursed his lips and a cocky smile appeared on his face "Come on, Owen. Why do you have to do _that_?"

Owen glanced at Barry, pretending to be completely oblivious to the nature of his friend's question, and plainly asked with a wicked little smile in the corners of his lips "What are you talking about?"

Barry continued, unconvinced by Owen's weak attempt at defences "You have always hated Hoskins, believe me,we all do, but I have _never_ seen you lose it like _that_ before. So, it _must_ be the girl."

Owen protested, slightly aggravated by the reminder of Hoskins touching Claire "Did you _see_ him _grab_ her?! God, I've should've done _worse_ than just break his arm. _Fucking asshole._ "

Then Barry saw it clearly, and said to his friend "You like her, don't you?"

Owen's defences went down, as he quickly glanced back at the jeep, then back at his friend, and he just smiled plainly.

Barry started to laugh slightly and replied warmly "Remember my friend, women vexes the mind, heart and the body."

Owen commented cheerfully without thinking "Well, then I'm in big trouble, my friend." he looked at Barry who couldn't hide his smile.

Then Owen turned more serious "Come on. We need to talk to these soldiers. I don't want them hurting my animals."

Barry's tone also changed to a more grim one "Owen, you know I trust you, but we can't use the raptors. They have _never_ been out of containment. They might just decide to ignore everything they've learned and slaughter all of us."

Owen stepped toward Barry and placed his hand comfortingly on his shoulder "I know. I don't like it either. But at this point,it is our only option. We have to kill this thing, and the raptors might be the only way to do it."

Barry nodded, reluctantly agreeing with Owen, and said "Alright."

Owen removed his hand from Barry's shoulder and started walking toward the soldiers.

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Claire got into the jeep, where Zach and Gray instantly leaned forward.

Gray immediately asked sweetly "Are you okay, aunt Claire?" and Zach more aggressively asked "Did that guy hurt you?!"

Claire's heart grew warm as she realized how deeply her nephews, her family, actually cared for her, and a hint of shame and guilt crept up in her soul, but she tried to ignore it best she could, rather focusing on the concern her nephews were currently displaying toward her "No, I'm fine."

Gray asked "What happened? Why did he do that?"

Claire replied truthfully, closing the jeep door behind her "I told him he was a coward. Some guys don't like it when women stand up to them."

Zach smirked and said "God, did you see Owen? He totally kicked that guy's ass. It was awesome."

Claire told them "Owen broke Hoskins's arm."

Gray and Zach's eyes widened a bit, and Gray asked "Really?"

Claire nodded, and Zach replied "Alright Owen!"

Claire smiled at her nephews' continued fascination with Owen, and she couldn't quite understand how she didn't notice his charm and charisma before. It was like she was so caught up in her own world, or rather her version of reality, that someone like Owen never really stood a chance before. In fact, if all this craziness hadn't happened, she would never have seen Owen, and herself, for what and who they truly were.

Just then there was a knock on the window, and Claire turned to see Owen standing outside the jeep. She instantly opened the car door.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"We're gonna use the raptors. There is no other way. If we don't do something to stop this thing it will kill everything in its path." Owen reluctantly informed her.

Claire felt a shiver run down her spine "Is it safe? I mean, will you be able to control them?"

Owen couldn't help the smirk creeping up his face, and he leaned into the car, bringing his face closer to hers, and he commented, in a seductive voice just above a whisper "It's not always about control. We trust each other. We understand each other. It's a relationship based on mutual respect."

She swallowed deeply at his words.

Zach and Gray amusedly watched the interaction between their aunt and her 'boyfriend'.

Then Owen pulled back a little and amusedly said in a cheerful voice "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were worried about me."

Claire stared at him, no words escaping her mouth, and she felt an unfamiliar sense of fear grab hold of her heart, a fear of never seeing him again, a fear of never telling him how she felt.

He smiled at her and said "Go to the truck, take Zach and Gray with you. And stay there until I get back." She just stared at him speechless. Then he nodded, turned around and started walking back to the enclosure.

Claire hesitated for a moment, and then she did something she never thought she would do.

She jumped out of the car, and rushed after Owen.

Owen swung around, afraid that something was wrong. The next thing he knew, Claire's arms wrapped around his neck, and his arms reacted by instantly wrapping around her body. Before he could ask what was going on, she pulled him towards her and crashed her lips passionately onto his. He was completely unaware about what the hell was going on, but he desirously returned the kiss, pulling her body tightly to his.

Then she unwillingly pulled away from him.

His arms were still slightly around her waist, and he amazedly asked her "What was _that_?"

She forced her fears away, she took a deep breath, knowing that this would change their relationship forever, accepting any and all consequences to follow, and she spoke "Zach was right... About me… about my feelings for you... And yes, I don't want you to go out there, because I am terrified that I will never see you again. And that in itself terrifies me because I have never felt that way about anyone before. And, I don't want anything to happen to you… So yes, if you need to know, I'm worried about you… " and her eyes began to water up in the tiniest bit.

Owen's left hand remained on her waist, and his right hand ran up her body and up to her face, and he cupped her cheek, his fingers resting behind her ear and slightly tangled in her hair and he leaned forward, his forehead touching hers, and he whispered softly to her "I know… I saw it… I just never in a million years thought you would actually tell me…" and she looked up at him, their eyes met, and he placed a loving soft kiss on her lips. She embraced the sweetness of his lips and a fresh tear ran down her face as she feared the worst.

Then he forced himself to pull away from her and tried to keep a straight face "Get to the truck, and wait for me until I get back."

She nodded, ignoring the painful feelings of loss already invading her body, and turned towards the jeep to go and get her nephews to the truck.

Owen walked towards the raptors, and a strange emotion woke inside of him, an emotion equal to fear and loss, and he realized in that moment that he never wanted to be away from her ever again.

 **NOTE: Okay, I admit, I might have overdone the emotions a bit. But I also think it kind of worked. I just wanted to dive deeper into their personal thoughts and feelings, especially because I didn't want to** **write too much of** **the action scenes just yet. But I guess I will have to for the next chapters. Will update soon xoxo**


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER 14**

 **Hey guys! Sorry for not updating sooner. To be honest, I was a little scared to continue because everyone seems to be loving this story (thanks again to everyone for the support) and I really didn't want to disappoint. I honestly think my last chapter was really good, and I actually don't know how to make this chapter as good as the last one. Fuck it, let's just go for it!**

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Every nerve in Claire's body tensed up and her heart turned to ice the moment she heard the raptors unleashed from their enclosure, and the man she unmistakably and undeniably loved was out there with those wild untamed dangerous animals, and she had never in her life wanted to break down in tears so badly, as the fear and feeling of hopelessness completely consumed her body. But she didn't have that luxury at the moment. The only thing she needed to focus all her strength and energy on, was keeping her nephews safe. _Owen can take care of himself… You wouldn't love him if he couldn't…_ she told her uneased and fragile mind, as she watched her nephews eagerly get into the large armoured truck.

"Alright. You will be safe in here. I will just be upfront so if you need me just open that hatch." Claire pointed to the front of the truck, as her nephews climbed in and she was closing the doors behind them.

Gray turned around, looked at his aunt, and asked "Aunt Claire…"

Claire paused for a moment, not shutting the doors completely just yet, and affectionately staring into her younger nephew's pure blue eyes, awaiting the rest of his question.

Gray continued "Are you sure we're gonna be okay?"

Zach remained silent. It wasn't that he didn't have faith in their previously business orientated with no place for family aunt, it was just that he knew that even if his aunt answered 'yes' to his brother's question, she could not guarantee it being the truth.

Claire breathed out a small breath of nervousness, with a hint of hidden doubt, and she glanced at Zach, maybe in a futile attempt to seek the appropriate answer under the circumstances, but, Zach's face gave her no answers. He merely looked at her with an expression that was meant to be cool and unfazed, but Claire could clearly see the desperation in her older nephew's dark brown eyes, a desperate and unspoken need to hear his aunt say that they would be okay, and for her to mean it.

 _Claire you need to be strong… You are strong… You will get through this…. You will get them safely home… They will be okay… You all will…._ and with those thoughts invading the most sceptical parts of her soul, she confidently and warmly replied "We're gonna be fine." and a small unintentional smile appeared on her lips, resulting in Gray, and to her surprize Zach as well, thoughtfully smiling back at her.

She finally closed the back doors of the truck, went to the front, and got into the vehicle.

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In the truck, Claire had a monitor in her hand, given to her by one of Hoskins's men, and she was watching Owen intensely. She heard the hatch behind her slide open and she turned to face her nephews who were staring at the monitor too.

Zach could see his little brother was still immensely scared, and so was his aunt, even though she didn't want to admit it in front of them, so he decided to steer the mood to a topic that would distract them for a minute or two, and he said "So, are you two gonna move in together after all this?"

Claire actually didn't react the way Zach thought, but he could see his aunt was blushing a bit, a subtle pinkness on her cheeks, and he could see her actively trying her best to hide the smile creeping up her lips.

Claire felt an excitement at the thought of having that type of relationship with Owen, and for a moment her thoughts sabotaged her conscious state of mind… _That would be so different… Actually living with him… How would he act?... Will he always make inappropriate comments?... Will he be as kind as he is now?... How will it feel to wake up next to him?... How will it feel to go to bed next to him?... How would it feel to…_ and her subtle pinkness on her cheeks grew to a shade of vibrant red at the thought of her lying next to Owen, his arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer… The very idea was almost too delicious for her to handle, and she anxiously tried to choke out a response, any response, but Gray beat her to it "If you moved in together, would that make Owen our uncle? Or do you need to be married for him to be our uncle?" Zach just wickedly grinned at his brother, knowing that even if Gray had no intention to make their aunt Claire uncomfortable, it totally worked, and for the moment, that is exactly what the three of them needed, silly bantering and awkward conversations.

Claire's breathe literally left her as she couldn't begin to answer her nephew's question, and doing everything in her mental power to ignore the raunchy thoughts that were quickly emerging from her subconscious mind, and she replied in a high pitched voice "No, no, people can't just move in together. It just doesn't …"

"Come on, Claire. Stop lying." Zach mockingly replied.

"I'm not lying." she poorly defended herself and her untruths, and continued "It's just that is a big step and it's something people need to think about…"

"Don't you _want_ too?" Gray innocently asked, stating his obvious fondness for Owen even more.

Claire had no idea what to say.

Then Zach leaned forward, almost putting his head through the open hatch, and genuinely and truthfully, with no bullshit attached thereto, looked at his aunt, and caringly replied "Claire…" and she looked at him intently, and he continued "…it's okay to just do what you want to do. Don't overthink everything." She was listening attentively to the teenager's advice, as he continued "Owen is an honest guy… And if you are not going to be honest with him, he is not going to stick around for long." Even though Zach spoke kindly and truthfully, in an attempt to help his aunt be who she wanted to be, Claire felt the words cut like knives as she pondered how this teenager could see right through her.

As she opened her mouth, ready to tell Zach that he was absolutely right and that she would absolutely take his advice from now on, they heard gunshots being fired in deep darkness of the jungle.

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All their months of training with the raptors, had in a strange way, been leading up to this moment, the moment where the raptors' intelligence, and more importantly the relationship of loyalty and trust between them and Owen, would face the ultimate challenge, and for some reason, Owen didn't feel the excitement that he thought he would if this day should have one day arrived. All he could think was leaving Claire behind in that truck. It was the safest place in the current situation, but he was so uneasy with her being out here, that it left a foul taste in his mouth and a heavy weight in his heart.

Barry walked to Owen "You think _that_ thing will keep up with them?" Barry asked, gesturing at the motorcycle Owen was currently sitting on.

Owen looked at his bike and said to his friend "I guess we'll find out."

Barry continued seriously "If anything even seems to be going wrong, we need to abort this mission, Owen."

Owen looked at Barry, nodded and replied "The first sign of trouble, we call it off." and Barry returned a nod, his eyes still filled with a deep concern.

The military cruiser pulled up behind Owen's bike, and Barry walked to his quadbike that was parked next to Owen's bike, and climbed on.

Owen's muscles tensed up at the nearing point of no return, and he gripped the motorbike handles tightly as he anxiously awaited the raptors' release. He quickly glanced back at Barry, and then at the young male employee operating the enclosure gates, and with a nod from Owen, the gates banged loudly open, and the velociraptors jolted out into the darkness of the jungle, tracking their prey. Owen, Barry and the Ingen military unit started their vehicles and set out behind the raptors to hunt down the Indominus and kill it, without for a moment considering the possibility that they had no idea what they were up against.

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The raptors were rampaging through the jungle and Owen was following on his bike close behind. This was a terrifying and wonderful moment in itself. Owen was hesitant at first, but then his adventurous untamed nature drove him forward to the front of the raptor pack, taking his deserved place as the alpha, and to his surprize, they instantly fell in next to him, running alongside him.

The raptors stayed on course, as Owen knew they would. After a few minutes he noticed them slowing down and he called Barry over the radio "I think they got something. Keep an eye out."

Owen slowed down his bike a bit, giving the raptors some space, then he noticed them stopping, and he followed their lead. He turned around and signalled Barry and the Ingen team to stop, and they obeyed his order.

Owen got off his bike with his gun in hand, and Barry and the military personnel took up position next to him, all of them behind the raptors.

Barry whispered to Owen "So far so good."

Owen glanced at his friend, and both of them refrained from exchanging smiles, both of them knowing that all hell could break lose at any moment. And it did.

Suddenly there was a rustle in the trees ahead of them, and a few branches cracked and broke, and there it was, the Indominus Rex. Owen aimed his gun at the dinosaur's head, and then the oddest thing happened. Owen immediately noticed something that sent a shiver down his spine. There was something in the dinosaur's features, something in the shape of the eyes, the sharpness of the jaws, and Owen tried his best to ignore it, but he couldn't. Something was wrong. Something in the way the Rex looked, was familiar to him. Then the realization hit him like a pile of oversized bricks as he saw his raptors respond to the growls and grunts of the Rex. Owen felt his soul sink into the depths of hell, and a whisper escaped his lips "Oh fuck".

Barry turned to Owen, noticing the fear in his friend's eyes instantly "Owen, what is it?"

Owen kept his eyes on the Rex, took a deep breath and replied "That thing is part raptor…" and the raptors turned to face their new target. "We need to go. Now." and Owen started to stand up from his position. Then the raptors lunged at them, and bullets started to fly into the air.

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The next moment the raptors scattered and live ammunition was flying everywhere.

"Get out of here!" Owen yelled. Barry didn't want to leave his friend, but he knew that Owen stood a better chance with the raptors. In some way they would recognize him, even respect him, Barry truly believed that, but he also knew that he didn't have the same intimate type of relationship with the raptors like Owen did, and they might tear him to pieces the second they saw him. Barry ran to the quadbike and left his friend to the mercy of his raptor pack.

Owen heard screams as he ran to his bike. He got on and started it and at that moment her realized Blue was staring right at him, stalking him. Owen revved the bike, looked at Blue as she was still intensely watching him, and he said "That's a girl…" and at his words, the thought of Claire and her nephews invaded his mind. _Shit! They are not safe! You need to get to them!_ and with that he quicky turned his bike around and sped off back to the enclosure, Blue and Delta viciously following him.

 **Note: Hey guys, sorry this was not the greatest chapter. It was a bit tricky. I will try and do better with the next one. Just give me a day or two to think a bit.**


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER 15**

 **Hey guys! Firstly thank you to everyone who wrote reviews and who is following my story. Secondly, I looked at my previous chapter again, and you guys were right, it wasn't actually as bad as I thought. So a big thanks for giving me the vote of confidence. Also, I know what my ending will be, and it will go past the movie, but not too much. Maybe a chapter, maybe two. But I am actually planning on doing something I have never done before, so hopefully I won't fuck it up.**

 **Okay, now back to this chapter.**

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They heard the gunshots echoing in the distance and Claire quickly grabbed the monitor, watching it so intensely that her eyes started to hurt, and her knuckles turned pale as death as she sternly clutched the electronic device, witnessing in horror Owen's former raptor pack unexpectedly turning on him and the Ingen military unit scattering bewilderedly into the green dark jungle.

"Was those gunshots?" Gray asked concerned from the hatch behind Claire. Claire quickly turned the monitor away from them and replied as calmly as possible "Everything is fine sweetheart..."

Zach unaggressively snapped at her "Don't lie to him! Gunshots do not equal everything being _fine_."

Claire anxiously replied "I don't _know_ what happened! It looked like the raptors turned on them! But I can't be sure!"

Zach's breath caught in his throat for a second, not completely sure with which emotion he should process the disturbing information received from his aunt, and Gray continued heroically "We need to get him!"

If Claire was honest with herself, that thought had already crossed her mind the moment she saw Owen's raptors turning snarling toward them, but she had her nephews to think about. She couldn't just drive into the roadless dark jungle with her adventurous young nephews and just hope for the best. That was not practical, and it definitely wasn't smart. She quickly shook her head fiercely from side to side, and replied "No we can't do that. It's too dangerous, and besides, Owen will be…"

Then a raptor's head crashed violently through the truck window next to her, and Claire swung around petrified and led out a terrified scream.

Gray yelled in terror and Zach completely froze up, but he quickly recovered as he heard a high pitch raptor shriek coming from the back of the truck. Zach instantly lunged at the back doors and pulled them tightly shut, flipping the inside lock closed. He slowly crept up the steel door, sliding his nose against it, and looked through one of the small square windows, and saw Echo, one of Owen's own raptors, staring straight in, snarling at him. Zach felt a cold shiver run down his spine as the Echo's eyes stayed fixed on him, the animal's teeth glaring at him, and keeping all his attention focused on the raptor, he yelled back at his aunt "Go Claire! Drive!"

As Claire was frantically avoiding the jaws of the raptor named Charlie, whose head was now in her lap and whose teeth were snapping viciously at her, she heard her nephew's words and she pushed the raptor out the window with every ounce of her strength, and floored the ignition.

Charlie fell backward and landed on her back, and was soon joined by Echo, both raptors staring at the truck as it pulled away.

Gray remained silent and frozen, and Zach stayed at the backdoors of the truck. Zach's soul was gripped by the coldness of death as he saw the two raptors starting to run after them, following the truck and gaining speed. "They're following us!" Zach yelled to Claire.

Claire was scared, terrified beyond belief actually, but she kept a straight face, shifted gears and yelled back at Zach "Just stay away from the backdoors! And hang on!" Zach went back to Gray, sat down beside his little brother, and placed his arm around him, hugging him tightly against his chest. Gray instantly started breathing more normally, and Zach could feel his little brother calming down a bit.

The thought of Owen quickly invaded Claire's mind... _Owen… where the hell are you?!... Please don't let me do this on my own… I couldn't wait for you at the enclosure… I needed to get them out of there… Please don't go to the enclosure… Please find me… Find me…Please God, find me… Because I can't lose you… Not now…_ then she heard Owen's name being called by her nephews, and she quickly glanced at her rear view mirror, and her heart leaped with joy and relief as she saw Owen's motorcycle in the distance behind the truck.

Zach and Gray heard Owen's bike coming from behind the truck and they moved to the back and opened the doors. "Owen!" they both yelled relieved as they saw him, and then they saw the two raptors trailing behind him, and the other two raptors still following the truck closely.

Gray yelled concerned "Owen, watch out!"

Owen knew Blue and Delta were still closely following him, but he did not at all anticipate the possibility that Echo and Charlie would be in front of him, and more specifically, on the verge of attacking the truck Claire and her nephews were currently in, and if his timing was off by a split second, he would lose the upper hand, and be trapped in between four raptors, waiting to tear him apart. An emotional thought came to him, and he shook it off as quickly as he could. He couldn't think of anything now, he needed to focus, or he would most certainly die.

Then Owen heard Blue calling to Echo and Charlie, and they started to slow down at their beta's command. This was it. Owen needed to go past them as quickly as he could, without them having the chance to rip him off his bike. He saw them slow down, and he clearly noticed Blue and Delta was speeding up from behind him. Owen knew what they were doing. They were about to corner him. That's how raptors hunted. Cunning. Tactical. As a pack. But Owen knew these creatures almost as well as he knew himself, and he knew that even though raptors were incredibly fast animals, it took some amount of effort for them to make sharp turns when they were not in full running speed. They were mostly clumsy and somewhat easily thrown of balance.

Blue and Delta were catching up to him.

Echo and Charlie were slowing down and started to turn around.

This was the moment of truth. The moment that meant the difference between life and death.

Owen's heart filled with fear and it took all his strength to push the terror down.

He gripped the handles tightly and revved his bike and pushed the accelerator to its limits, contemplating the fact that the only way to get through two raptors waiting for you, was definitely not to drive directly through them, and as Echo and Charlie turned around to face Owen, teeth already exposed, Blue and Delta lunged at him from behind, their claws outstretched.

Owen sharply turned his bike to the right, keeping his balance for dear life, the back wheel sliding through the gravel in a drift motion, raptor teeth clasping at him, and he manoeuvred passed the two raptors unscathed. As he barely pulled away from Echo and Charlie's snapping jaws, he heard a loud thump, followed by grunts and growls and he realized that Delta and Blue had lunged straight into Echo and Charlie, giving him the perfect opportunity to get some distance between himself and the pack of raptors.

Claire yelled back at her nephews "Where is he?!"

Zach turned around and replied enthusiastically "He's fine! He's right behind us!"

 _Thank God_ she thought as she saw the light from Owen's motorcycle next to her side of the truck. Then she saw him, coming up next to the truck and he turned his head and looked at her, his manly rugged face slightly covered in dirt and sweat, and if they weren't almost eaten by raptors, she would have completely acknowledged the fact that he looked unbelievably sexy in that exact moment.

"We need to get indoors! Follow me!" he yelled at her, admiring for a brief moment her beautiful soul-comforting face, and the emotional thought that he shook off earlier when the raptors were closing in on him, came back instantly… _God if I never saw your face again, there would be no point in fighting to stay alive…_ and a warmth filled his restless heart as her wholesome bright blue eyes stared at him as she nodded.

She followed him as he led them back to the resort.

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"Lowery, are you there?!" Claire spoke loudly over the radio as she kept the truck steadily on the road, following Owen in front of her.

"Claire! Yeah! I'm here!" Lowery replied.

"We're coming back to the resort! We need to call in a chopper!" she continued.

"I don't know if that is going to be possible Claire! The last chopper that was called in just left!" Lowery informed her.

Claire replied concerned "What?!" and then she thought to rather focus at the matter at hand, which was to get back to the compound and she continued "It's fine! Let's just get back to the resort!"

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They drove back to the resort, and they stopped in front of the main compound.

Owen got off his bike and went to Claire's side of the truck.

She opened her door and carefully climbed out of the truck. Owen lifted his arms to assist her.

As she got out her body unknowingly and unintentionally slid into Owen's arms as he helped her out of the vehicle.

Her hands pressed against his firm chest, and her hair was messy and over her face.

Owen felt her soft hands press against his chest, and her breath on his skin felt warm and soothing in a way, but her hair was in her face and he couldn't see her eyes, or what she was feeling at the moment.

She slowly took a deep breath, and looked up at Owen, tiny strands of hair touching her eyes.

Owen lifted his hand, and brushed the hair away from her face, his fingertips sliding gracefully over her soft cheek which was slightly covered with small particles of dirt.

She stared at him, her chest heaving from all the unwanted excitement of the raptor chase.

He smiled at her and said "Not too bad for a second date" he wittily said in a tender voice.

She wanted to slap him for his stupid and ill-timed comment, but instead, she breathed out a small sigh of relief, shook her head slightly from side to side and charmingly replied "That does not count as a second date…"

He felt his heart fill with relief as he realized she was fine, a little out of breath, but fine, and he pulled her closer to him, their eyes locked on each other's, his arms still around her body, and he playfully replied "Guess I'll just have to try harder next time…" and he leaned in for a kiss, but Gray's voice stopped them "Owen, are we safe?"

Owen looked at Claire, seeing the disappointment in her eyes about her nephew's innocently and unknowingly bad timing, and Owen gave her a subtle don't-worry-we-will-finish-this-later wink. Claire smiled and pulled away from Owen.

Owen turned to Gray, and crouched down, placing his hands on the young boy's shoulders and caringly comforting him "We will be. But I think we better get inside." Gray nodded, and so did Owen.

Then Owen stood up and walked to Zach, who was quietly standing on the side lines, and Owen placed one hand on Zach's shoulder, and spoke in a more man-to-man voice "You okay dude?"

Zach's eyes were a bit bewildered, but he nodded nonetheless and replied coolly "Yeah. I'm good." Owen nodded and gently pushed Zach forward to the doors of the compound.

The two boys walked into the compound, with Claire and Owen following behind.

Then Claire felt Owen's strong hand grip hers tenderly yet tightly, as they walked into the building together.

 **NOTE: I think it is okay for now. Also a little romance-novel-ish, but I think it was kind of cool. I might take another day or two to update again. Just want to think about it xoxo**


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER 16**

 **Hi guys! Sorry for only updating now.**

 **Okay I am not sure what I am going to do with this chapter. In the movie it is the lab scene with Hoskins, and then the huge beast fight scene. Not exactly easy to copy or improve. To be honest, I am actually looking forward to writing the story after the big fight scene, because I actually think I have a really cool idea for that chapter (or maybe chapters).**

 **But let's see what I can do with this one.**

 **PS. I might completely rip the next few scenes apart. I actually really love the scenes as they are in the movie, but it would be pointless not to take a bit of a risk with this. Besides, there is NO WAY in hell I can make my scenes better than the scenes in the movie, I can just try and make them different. But please forgive me if I screw up this chapter, or the ones to come.**

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The main building seemed different in the darkness of the night, seemed colder and more hollow.

Zach and Gray eagerly led the way, and Claire and Owen followed close behind, hands still intimately locked together.

Claire's eyes danced all over the room, frantically searching for nothing, and yet, searching for something that would return her sense of control at the end of these two chaotic days, and unknowingly clenching Owen's hand tighter.

Owen glanced at her then looked down at their intertwined hands, and a feeling of contentment accompanied the subtle smile appearing on his face at the thought of Claire putting her trust and faith in him to simply be there for her, be there _with_ her, to keep her safe, to protect her.

Claire noticed him looking at her and she turned her head towards him and asked a bit lost and confused, yet with a friendly tone "…what are you looking at?"

Owen's smile transformed into a sweet little grin as he glanced at her, then looked forward, pretending to look at Gray and Zach walking anxiously in front of them, and playfully replied "Oh nothing… Just didn't expect our relationship to _evolve_ this quickly…" knowing exactly how she would react, and to his surprize, she did the exact opposite.

She determinedly stopped in her tracks, keeping Owen's hand tightly in hers.

Owen was a bit unsure of what was happening. Then his unsure emotions turned into amusement and intrigue as she tugged him slightly yet forcefully closer to her, and her free hand slid up over his firm chest.

Her hand slithered over his chest around to his shoulder and finally came to rest on the back of his neck.

Owen felt his heart beat hard in his chest at her unexpected actions and he watched her intensely.

Claire stared into his eyes and she seductively and softly pulled his mouth toward hers, and placed a luscious kiss on his rugged lips.

Owen felt her soft lips caress his and he lifted his free hand, barely touching her waist and he breathed in her scent deeply, a fusion of rose, wild lilies and vanilla.

She pulled away from him, her forehead resting against his, and she kept her eyes closed for a moment.

Owen could hear her breathing and he felt his heart beat in tune with her soul. He pulled away from her, and she opened her eyes, and stared at him.

He stared at her, completely and pleasantly caught off guard, a small smile tugging at his lips as he realized she had changed in so many ways. She was no longer the pretend cold business orientated woman she had been before, no, now she was herself, her true self, a self he was deeply in love with, a self that he knew was deeply in love with him.

She smiled shyly and her eyes dropped to the floor for a moment, then her eyes found their way back to his, and she replied softly yet assertively "…I hope that is not a problem for you…"

His heart felt instantly warm at her words, and his smile grew even more, but his tone of voice changed to a more committed one, and he replied "…not at all…"

Just then they heard a sound coming from the labs.

"I think there's someone in the lab." Zach said tensely and Gray stood closer to his older brother.

Owen let go of Claire's hand, and stepped away from her a bit, and grabbed his gun. He had no idea what or who was in the lab, and he didn't want to take any chances.

Claire focused her attention in the direction of the lab, and she quickly started walking towards it, and before she knew it, she had completely outwalked the three men currently in her life, as they were struggling to keep up with her pace.

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Claire started to run up to the lab, and her temper flared up faster than she could fathom as she saw the bastard whose jaw she wanted to break and his military people loading up the dinosaur embryos "Hoskins! What the hell are you doing? You can't take those embryos!"

Hoskins turned around and Claire could see his arm was in a sling, undoubtingly the handy work of her boyfriend… _Wait… did she just acknowledge Owen as her boyfriend?... Could she even do that?... What would he think of her using that word to describe him?... Snap out of it Claire!… Focus on this jackass!... And put him in his fucking place!..._ and she refocused her hateful eyes on Hoskins.

"That has nothing to do with you, sweetheart. Just go back to your useless gutless _boyfriend_ and leave this to the big boys." Hoskins spat out, grinding maliciously through his teeth, and Claire could feel her heart darken at Hoskins' disrespectful misuse of the word she was so proud of a second ago.

Just then Owen and the boys came jogging into the lab.

Owen saw Hoskins.

Hoskins saw Owen.

Owen immediately stepped protectively closer to Claire, keeping a tense eye on the bastard whose arm he had broken earlier.

Zach couldn't help it, a cocky grin appeared on his face and he mockingly said "Wow dude, Owen really kicked your ass." and Gray couldn't help but giggle at his older brother's comment.

Hoskins didn't find it humorous at all, the young teenage brat sassing him like that, and he instantly walked closer to Claire and her nephews.

Owen's muscles tensed up, ready for the second round, but before Owen's reflexes could set in, Claire suddenly stepped forward and, using all her strength, violently thrashed both her hands onto Hoskins large chest, and forcefully pushed him back with everything she had and aggressively protested "Stay the hell away from my family!".

Hoskins took a few steps back, but quickly retaliated and semi lunged towards Claire.

Owen was about to kill this overweight bastard, and yet, his actions were again rendered unnecessary as Claire lifted her fist and drove it into Hoskins' nose. Gray and Zach yelled "Woah!" in amazement at their aunt's bad ass take no shit punch. Hoskins groaned in pain and Claire clenched her fist in her hand, which was throbbing with heat and pain, as she didn't realize punching someone would hurt that much. Owen was absolutely stunned, and he couldn't help the animalistic and semi raunchy thoughts that were creeping up in his mind at Claire's display of emotional strength and raw emotion. Owen quickly took Claire's reddish fist delicately in his hands, and asked her "Are you okay?" and she just nodded and replied through gritted teeth as she glanced at Hoskins with burning eyes filled with hatred and disgust "Never been better."

Hoskins took a few steps back when Claire's fist made contact with his nose, but when he regained his composure, he stayed where he was, not risking Owen joining in on the action again.

Owen stepped in front of Claire and her nephews, just to avoid any further unnecessary retaliation from either side.

Hoskins just stared at Claire and Owen, and simply replied in a dangerously calm cruel voice "God you two are pathetic! And by the way, this is happening sweetheart… and there is _nothing_ you two can do about it. Now with Mr Masrani out of the picture, Ingen will finally be able to use these animals for what they were made for, to serve as pawns of war. But you two were just too pre-occupied, too stupid, to even notice that this was the plan from the beginni…"

Then Charlie came crashing through the lab window, and lunged at Hoskins' throat, sinking her teeth and claws deep into his body, a terrified blood spattering yell coming from his mutilated upper body being ripped apart.

Claire and her nephews stood frozen stiff at the sight of the raptor tearing Hoskins flesh apart.

Owen's eyes grew wide as he saw Charlie digging into Hoskins, and his instincts quickly regained control of him and he forcefully grabbed Claire by the wrist as Charlie tore open Hoskins from his stomach to his nose, and Owen yelled to them "Come on!" and Claire forced herself to move, pulling her nephews with her.

They ran to the main doors of the compound, as if their life depended on it, which it actually did, hoping to at least escape the current raptor behind them, feeding on Hoskins' body in the lab, and they banged the front compound doors open with brute force, not expecting at all that they would be trapped either way.

As they fled through the doors, Owen stopped in his tracks, and Claire and her nephews did the same, as they saw them, standing in front of their path, staring at them with open snarling jaws and claws outstretched.

Charlie banged through the door behind them, blood on her jaws.

Echo was standing to Owen's left, and Delta to his right, and Blue, Owen's former beta, was right in front of them, baring her razor sharp teeth.

 **NOTE: I actually had another part planned for this chapter. But I want to make sure I write the next part properly because I am going to change a few things. Again, hopefully I don't screw it up. Give me a day or two to update. I want to do a proper job with the next chapter. Also, I really hope Claire wasn't written too much out of character. I hate doing that. Let me know xoxo**


	17. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER 17**

 **Hi guys! Firstly a big big big thanks to everyone who is reading my story, who favoured it and who left a review, and to everyone else!**

 **Secondly it is my birthday today, and it was actually a really great day. And after some awesome cake and birthday wishes, I wanted to write this chapter.**

 **PLEASE NOTE that I might change a lot of things in this scene (the raptors and the beast fight etc.). Again, I LOVE THE SCENES AS THEY ARE IN THE MOVIE, but I just really want to try something a little different. Let's see what happens.**

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Claire felt the fear grossly clench her heart as she saw the four snarling raptors closing in on them.

Gray and Zach stood frozen, too scared to think, too scared to move, too scared to breath.

Owen's muscles started to ache as panic and tension spread through his entire body, as Blue bared her razor-like teeth at him and his… _family_ … the word entered his mind before he could stop it, and the terrifying realization overtook him that they might not get out of this, and his mind flashed with one single superficial thought… _Owen, you guys are in deep shit… And if you don't do something now… you are all going to die…_

Claire glanced anxiously at her left and then at her right, taking in, yet not completely believing, the sight of the two raptors currently stalking them from both sides. She unwillingly glanced over her shoulder, and the raptor behind them was also edging dangerously closer.

Blue kept her eyes fixed on Owen, her former alpha.

Owen kept his stable composure as best he could, but knew that he was out of options. If he kept his gun on him, he would maybe be able to shoot the raptors if they attacked, but he truly didn't want to shoot his animals, after all, he really cared for them and he deeply respected their relationship with him. Besides, if he kept his gun, there was no way Blue would trust him enough to back off, and that would not help their current situation at all. If he put his gun down, which he also really didn't want to do as it would leave them to the mercy of the raptors whose loyalty were currently possibly misplaced, there was a chance that Blue would signal the pack to kill all of them. Owen took a deep breath, small droplets of sweat forming on his brows, and slowly started to crouch down to the floor to put his gun down. Blue immediately reacted.

As Owen was crouching down, lowering his physical stance and presence, the raptor beta leaned aggressively forward, keeping her eyes locked on Owen, and Owen kept his eyes on Blue as much as he could while taking his gun to the floor. As Owen's gun touched the ground, it made a steel-on-pavement-clang sound and Blue opened her jaws wider at the unfamiliar sound, even a bit startled, and in that moment, Claire lost all her rational senses.

Claire imagined Blue lunging at Owen, open jaws and outstretched claws, and before any of her cruel horrifying imaginations came true, Claire stepped protectively in front of Owen, who was still slightly crouched down, staring directly at the beta raptor.

Blue's head flicked up cautiously and annoyed, as this unknown human female stood in front of her, challenging her.

Claire's heart was cold and her composure was solid. Her breathing was deep. She stood in between Owen, the man she loved, and Blue, the animal Owen had spent months building a positive relationship with. Blue growled and puffed dangerously and Claire could feel the animal's breath on her face.

Owen was terrified that Blue would instantly kill Claire.

"Claire, what _the hell_ are you doing?" Owen whispered as he saw Claire foolishly stepping in between him and Blue, knowing that the actual question he wanted to ask his soon-to-be-or-maybe-already-was-girlfriend was… _are you fucking crazy?!_

Claire didn't answer him. She remained quiet and kept her intense gaze on Blue.

Blue leaned threateningly forward, snarling at Claire.

Claire didn't move. She didn't flinch in the slightest. She stood firm, chest out, focusing on controlling her breathing and keeping her eyes on the raptor in front of her.

Delta, Echo and Charlie viciously shrieked behind Claire, but she ignored it and held her ground.

Blue's snout came closer to Claire's face, and her jaws was still open slightly exposing her jagged teeth.

Owen slowly stood up straight again, Claire still between him and Blue.

He had no idea what to do next. He had no idea what would happen if he pulled Claire backwards at this very moment in an attempt to get some distance between her and his beta. Blue had not attacked her yet, she hadn't killed her yet, and that had to mean something, but Owen had no idea what, and he didn't want to hesitate too long and then forcefully have to find out the hard way. All their lives depended on what would happen in the next few seconds.

Blue's snout slightly touched Claire's nose, and she growled, but Claire remained still, calm, confident. She kept her human eyes on the creature's in front of her.

Owen was terrified beyond belief, and yet he wanted so desperately to know what would happen next, wanted to know how Blue and the pack would react.

Then Blue closed her jaws, and Owen saw her body relax as she lowered her head a bit.

Claire's body also relaxed slightly, and she took a small step back, toward Owen.

Owen knew this was his que.

He grabbed Claire gently by her arm and slowly pulled her backwards a bit more, and he took a stance in front of her, Blue intensely watching him.

Owen lifted his hand carefully, gesturing for his beta to relax and that is was all going to be alright, and said in a tender voice "Easy Blue… It's okay… I'm just going to take this off…" and Owen reached over, unclicked the strap, and gently took the Ingen camera off Blue's head. Owen couldn't help but admit how extremely amazing this new revelation was, how unexpected and how completely terrifying. Not only did the raptors remember their relationship with him, not only did they still respect him and trust him after the Indominus had claimed the alpha status, but they actually accepted Claire as part of the pack, as more than part of the pack, as Owen's mate, as an alpha.

Just then a deep roar echoed through the night as the Indominus stepped out of the night.

Blue swung around and shrieked at the Indominus, and Delta, Charlie and Echo stepped closer to their beta. Owen quickly grabbed his gun on the floor, and stood up again quickly, stepping closer to his raptors, the five of them forming a close pack formation.

The Indominus growled viciously at them.

The raptors bared their teeth and claws.

Then Owen pressed his lips together, and on his whistle the pack of raptors lunged at the Indominus.

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"They're not strong enough! We need help!" Gray yelled at his aunt and Owen as he saw the raptors attack the Indominus, and how the larger animal was throwing the raptors effortlessly from one side to the other.

Owen turned around, facing Claire and her nephews, gun ready "You need to get out of here! Go!" he yelled at them as he wielded his gun, ready to help his pack.

Claire's eyes widened as she was struck with a completely ridiculous idea.

She grabbed Gray and Zach, one hand on each of their shoulders and yelled protectively "Go! Into the building! I'll be right behind you!"

Gray nodded obediently, but Zach shook his head and said "No Claire! We're not leaving you!"

Claire pulled both her nephews toward her and gave them a quick fierce hug and protested almost aggressively "No! Go! Now!" and both her nephews turned around and ran into the main compound building.

Claire turned around, and ran to one of the small nearby shops, which she hoped had a first aid kit close by.

Owen and his raptors were keeping the Indominus occupied and that gave Claire a few minutes to reach the shop, search and find the first aid kit, grab what she needed, basically one red flare and one of the radios, and then she ran like hell to paddock 9, where she hoped the _help_ that they obviously and desperately needed, would be waiting for her.

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"You're insane Claire! This won't work!" Lowery protested over the radio.

Claire took a breath, and all her fear and doubt left her soul, and it was replaced by bravery and courage. She lifted the radio and replied calmly "Lowery, please just trust me, and... open… the… fucking… door… Please!" her last word came out as a helpless plea for help.

Lowery's breath caught in his throat, and he lifted his hand, which currently felt like a ton of bricks, and pressed in the required codes, and opened the door to paddock 9, and he replied "…it's done."

Claire spoke two sincere words before she threw away the radio and lit the flare "Thank you".

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Owen was aiming at the Indominus and firing off as many shots as he could, and his pack was clawing the hell out of it, but it wasn't going down, and it wasn't losing pace.

"Where the hell are you going Claire?!" he yelled to himself as he saw Claire running off into the darkness with a flare and radio in her hand. He knew she had to have some sort of plan, he just really wished she would have shared that information with him before she ran off to God knew where.

Just then, Owen heard something open, almost like a large steel door, and then he realized what Claire's plan was and he exclaimed in disbelief "You have got be kidding me!"

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The paddock door opened, and Claire lit the flare, and her mind went blank as she heard its large footsteps coming towards her, and then she saw the amber yellow eyes coming out from the depths of the jungle.

The massive T-Rex came out of the darkness like a hound that was called by its master, and Claire felt a sense of power rushing through her veins.

The moment the T-Rex was almost right in front of her, she nodded, quickly turned around and ran as fast as she could, an enormous roar coming from behind her.

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The Indominus was slamming Owen's raptors to the ground and he could see that Charlie and Delta were badly hurt as they weren't getting up.

Blue and Echo were on the Indominus's back, clawing and biting at it, but Owen knew that they wouldn't be able to keep that up for long. Then he saw a red flare in the distance, and when his eyes focused, he saw Claire running towards him, with the T-Rex following close behind.

Owen's eyes grew wide and his soul filled with fear and relief at the same time, and the first clear thought that came to his mind as he saw Claire fiercely leading the giant T-Rex towards the Indominus with a small red flare, her hair messy and her clothes half torn, running in her annoyingly sexy high heels, was… _God I'm gonna marry that woman..._

Claire used all the strength in her arm as she forcefully threw the flare on the Indominus.

Just then the Indominus slammed Blue and Echo to the ground, not really taking notice of the red flare. Then it looked up and noticed the T-Rex stomping towards it. The two beasts growled at each other and roared, and the next thing anyone knew, blood and claws were flying all over the place.

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Owen ran to Claire, who had fallen down on her stomach, after the T-Rex stomped passed her.

She looked up at Owen, as he knelt down beside her and grabbed her arm "Come on! We need to get out of the open otherwise we'll be caught up in the fight!" Owen explained referring to the two Rexes currently in a deadly battle.

Claire grabbed on to his arm and pulled herself up.

They ran to one of the outdoor bars and crouched down behind it.

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They heard the Indominus and the T-Rex, growling and roaring, and Owen swiftly peeked over the counter of the bar, and he saw the Indominus had the T-Rex pinned down helplessly.

He quickly turned to Claire and exclaimed "The Indominus is gonna kill the T-Rex! I need to help it! Or it will go after my raptors next!"

Owen wanted to stand up but Claire grabbed his arm, keeping him crouched down for a moment, and he could see tears at the corners of her eyes as she desperately pleaded with him "Owen no! Please don't go!" her voice slightly changed into a whimper.

He had no time to argue with her. All his raptors were badly injured and if the Indominus killed the T-Rex, they would have no way of stopping it. He grabbed the back of her head and forcefully pulled her toward him, and placed a strong kiss on her lips, and he felt a tear slip over her cheek, softly sliding down against his own skin. He pulled away from her, his forehead still against her, then he looked at her and she looked at him, and he forced himself to leave her there, and said firmly to her "Stay here." and with that he jumped over the bar, with his gun in hand, headed for the Rex fight.

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The Indominus was pinning the T-Rex to the ground, and it lowered its open jaws towards the T-Rex's throat. Just before it could sink its large teeth into its victim's neck, Owen fired a few shots into its shoulders and it quickly staggered away from the T-Rex.

Owen's pack of raptors were scattered all over the place, all of them badly injured. Then Blue saw Owen shoot the Indominus and she saw how her alpha was protecting the T-Rex, and with that she gathered all her physical strength, clawed herself upwards and called to the rest of their pack.

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As the Indominus turned to face Owen, his pack of raptors appeared behind him, and the Indominus growled at the human and his four raptors.

Just then, as the Indominus was distracted by the raptor pack, the T-Rex lunged at the Indominus and clutched its mighty jaws around the hybrid's neck.

Owen knew this was it. He looked at Blue, and whistled.

Blue and the pack lunged at the Indominus.

The Indominus growled in pain as the raptors and the T-Rex sank their jaws into it.

Owen knew there was no way the Indominus could survive the fight, and in a few moments, it sank to its knees, and the T-Rex lowered its head, and broke the neck of the Indominus.

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After the T-Rex killed the Indominus, Owen readied his gun, just in case.

The T-Rex lifted its head and looked at the four raptors surrounding it.

The raptors didn't attack the Rex. They just cautiously stared at it.

The T-Rex just gave a small growl, turned around, and disappeared into the park.

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Claire couldn't hear anything anymore and she slowly peeked over the outdoor bar counter, and as she saw the T-Rex disappearing into the park, she got up and ran to Owen.

Owen turned to her, and as she instantly threw her arms around him, he lifted his arms embracing her in an intimate hug.

Then Owen heard the grunts of the raptors, and he let go of Claire, facing the pack.

Claire didn't move away from Owen. She stepped closer to him, making sure that the raptors clearly understood she was with him, that she was with their alpha.

The four raptors grunted and puffed, and kept their distance.

Blue stepped forward slightly, and Owen nodded in a gesture of go-on-girl-it's-okay-get-out-of-here.

Just then Blue turned to the rest of the pack, and then they also disappeared into the darkness of the park.

Claire breathed her first sign of relief.

Owen looked at her, threw his one arm around her shoulder, and pulled her closer, placing a kiss on her forehead, both of them secretly wondering how in the world they had survived this almost fatal encounter.

"Is it over?" Gray's voice came from behind them.

Claire and Owen turned around, and saw Zach was standing next to his little brother.

Owen smiled and said "Yeah, I think so."

Claire let go of Owen, and ran to her nephews.

When she reached them, she paused for a short second.

They looked at her unsurely.

She looked at them unsurely.

Then she grabbed both of them and pulled them towards her, hugging them tightly, tears running down her face.

Owen stepped closure to the hugging threesome, and Claire and the boys looked up at him with a just-come-on-dude look, and with that, Owen smiled, walked casually forward, and joined in on the group hug.

 **Note: Hi guys, I am NOT DONE with the story. I still have one or two chapters to write. So I will update as soon as I can. Hope this was okay xoxo**


	18. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER 18**

 **Hi guys!**

 **Thank you so much for all the reviews and the birthday wishes! I really appreciate it!**

 **Now, this chapter IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER, but in this chapter I end the movie story, so it will most likely be a short chapter. After that, I will just wing it the best way I can.**

 **Enjoy.**

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The morning sun swam graciously in through the windows of the steel airplane hangar.

All the quests of the park were directed to the building to remain there for the next 24 hours, either to receive some much needed medical attention and emotional care, including warm coffee and some refreshments, or just to wait for their families to retrieve them.

Claire sat on one of the blue stretchers, and her nephews were next to her.

Gray was laying down, resting his head on his aunt's lap, covered under a brownish blanket she had draped over him.

Zach sat next to Claire on the stretcher, also covered in a brown-greenish blanker. He tried his best to stay awake and keep watch over his aunt and his little brother, but the last few days had really tested the limits of his youth, and he couldn't help his eyes growing heavy and without knowing he did it, he tilted his head slightly towards his aunt's shoulder, and Claire smiled as she felt Zach's head now completely resting on her shoulder.

Claire looked at all the people in the building, embracing each other, supporting each other, reuniting with their families, and an utter amazement swept over her at the thought of the last few days, and how her life had instantly changed from controlled and everything in perfect order, to adventure, excitement and deliciously unpredictable chaos. A small sentimental smile danced on her lips at the mere thought.

Zach opened his eyes, and lifted his head.

Claire looked at her nephew and smiled "You okay?"

Zach returned a small smile "Yeah."

Claire continued "I guess this weekend didn't really turn out the way you thought it would?"

Zach shook his head, his smiled fading a bit "…No…it didn't…" Claire's heart sank a bit, but then Zach looked at his aunt and his smile returned completely "…it turned out _way better_ …" and Claire's smile grew full as she lifted her hand and stroked it over her nephews head, messing up his hair playfully. He pulled away and smiled.

"Claire!" Claire heard her name and looked up to see Karen jogging toward her and her nephews.

"Mom!" Gray exclaimed as he saw his mother running towards them. Zach also hastily got up and went to his mother, and Claire felt a sweet bitter sadness creep sneakily up her heart.

She saw her sister embrace her sons, and for a moment she remained where she stood, not wanting to interrupt their family reunion. Before she could contemplate her next move, her sister ran toward her and threw her arms around her "Oh my God! Are you okay?!" Karen asked her, and with those words, Claire's eyes started to tear up a bit, and she replied "I'm fine…" and her sister hugged her even tighter.

After a few moments Karen pulled away from her sister and said "Alright… I think we will get some coffee, then we're going to take the boys home. Are you sure you're okay?"

Claire smiled and said "Yes. I'll be fine."

Just then Gray and Zach walked passed their mother.

Gray threw his arms around his aunt and said "Thank you for saving us, aunt Claire." and Claire felt new warm tears slide down her cheek.

Then Gray pulled away and Zach stepped closer to his aunt.

At first Zach and Claire just stared at each other awkwardly, then Zach smiled at her and he stepped closer to her, gently putting his arm around his aunt, and pulling her in for a hug. Claire's heart grew full and warm as she realized how much she truly loved her family.

Zach pulled away slightly, his arms still semi around his aunt's shoulders and replied good-naturedly "So, I guess we'll see the _two of you_ at Christmas dinner…."

And Claire frowned for a moment, then saw her nephew's eyes gesture her to look behind her.

She turned around and saw Owen assisting an elderly couple in the distance.

She turned back to her nephew and smiled, replying playfully confident "I guess we'll have to see." and Zach's smile grew again, and before they knew it, both him and Claire were smirking at each other like old friends.

Karen's voice interrupted "Come on Zach. Let's go get some coffee. Gray is already scanning the complimentary cookies." And with that Zach winked at his aunt and wittily commented "Just don't wear the pink pyjamas anymore" and Claire couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her body.

She watched her family as they walked away from her, off to get some coffee, and she realized that, for the first time in her life, she understood what was truly important in life, truly important in _her_ life. And with that thought she turned in his direction, and walked eagerly toward Mr Owen Grady.

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"Are you alright, sir?" Owen asked the elderly gentleman and the man replied "oh yes, I think my wife is going to steal all the free cookies, but don't tell anyone..." Owen smiled at the old man and simply replied "Don't worry, it will be our secret."

Then Owen turned around to see if anyone else needed any assistance, then he saw her, walking towards him.

As if he was drawn to her, he instantly took a few steps forward so that they would reach each other earlier.

They stopped in front of each other.

He looked at her, a subtle smile on his face, his eyes intensely focused on her.

She looked at him, a cute nervous smiled tugging at her lips.

Owen wanted to say something, but she took the lead, and started in a calm yet well-hidden anxious voice, stumbling slightly through her words "So… I was thinking… These past few days… Well, it's been chaotic to say the least… But… I just wanted to know… if…"

Owen had no idea what she wanted to say or ask him, and he cursed his overconfident nature as he unwillingly interrupted her "I told you, if you want us to move in together, just ask" and a sweet comical grin spread across his face. The next moment she left him literally breathless as she shyly answered while biting her lower lip, which made his animal urges run wild, "…that's actually what I am _trying_ to do…"

Owen frowned in disbelief. He was absolutely sure he didn't understand her correctly. A small confused smile accompanied his amused and unsure facial expression.

Claire felt her cheeks burn up slightly at Owen's lack of reaction, and she quickly lost some of her former confidence, and nervously replied "I mean, it was just a _thought_ … I didn't say you _had_ to…" her confidence was shrinking as he just stared at her in amazement and she decided to withdraw the whole idea, and she smiled awkwardly and said "…it's a stupid idea… just forget I said anythi…"

Owen stepped closer to her, put his arms around her tiny waist and pulled her forcefully forward, but he didn't kiss her, he just kept his eyes locked on hers.

Claire forgot what she was saying, and she just stared at Owen, who was intimately embracing her.

Then Owen opened his lips and said charmingly with a hint of cockiness "…I thought you'd never ask…"

And Claire smiled at his silly and cheesy reply, and she leaned forward, standing on the tips of her toes, and kissed her rugged caveman.

 **Note: I don't know if this was cute or stupid. Let's say it was cute. Again, this is NOT THE LAST CHAPTER. In the next chapter, I am hoping to write something really good, something I have never written before. To be honest, I am kind of scared, but I really think I can do it. Let's hope so xoxo**


	19. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER 19 : re-post : sorry guys I needed to fix something really small but really important**

 **Okay, now the movie story is finished so now I'm left to my own crazy ideas.**

 **I definitely know what I want to write in this chapter, and I really hope it works well. Actually, I am so nervous and excited about writing this chapter.**

 **I don't think this will be the last chapter, but I also don't have anything planned for the next chapter at this moment. But I will see how it goes.**

 **Okay, let's do this.**

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It was early afternoon and Claire had decided to leave work a little earlier than usual, mostly because Ingen's Publicists and Marketing Management were still working 24 hours a day in an attempt of restoring the public image of the park and the escaped hybrid scandal that transpired two weeks ago, and there wasn't really much for the staff and management of Jurassic World to do but sit and wait until the buildings were repaired and the park was reopened. Claire had a few things to do at her hotel room anyway, which room she now shared with a certain special someone.

"Hi Karen." Claire answered as her phone buzzed on the kitchen counter.

"Hey you! Did I catch you at a bad time?" Karen asked politely.

Claire smiled and said "No, not at all. I actually took the rest of the day off…"

Karen replied playfully "Oh my God. I never thought I would hear those words coming from your mouth."

Claire casually continued "Well, the park is still being restored and we are doing our best to keep the news coverage to a minimum. But frankly, only half of those problems are mine, so I decided I would take a break."

"So, it has nothing to do with your date tonight?" Karen smugly replied.

Claire felt the butterflies awake in her stomach and coyly replied "Oh I completely forgot about that…" she grossly lied, as she knew all too well that she had been thinking about their much anticipated second date for days now.

"You are such a little liar!" Karen teased.

Claire breathed out and replied "Alright. Yes, maybe. I am just so nervous about it."

Karen exclaimed confusedly "Why? You guys have been living together for about two weeks now, so what is there to be nervous about?"

Claire was a little hesitant to admit it, but she did "I don't know. I mean, it is different living with someone…"

Karen frowned a bit "Different? As in _bad_ different?"

Claire quickly replied "No not at all! It's actually going better than I thought it would. I mean, he still stays at the bungalow from time to time, but he spends most nights here."

Karen was curious "Why does he still stay at the bungalow?"

Claire continued "It was actually _my_ idea. Sometimes they need to work late at the raptor enclosure, especially now after the hybrid escape issue, and the bungalow is just closer to the enclosure than the hotel. So I told him if he needed to stay there some nights, it is fine with me."

Karen commented light-heartedly, yet with a serious undertone "You're not doing this to push him away, are you?"

Claire freaked a bit at her sister's words "No, I don't want to do that! I just don't want him to completely change his life for me."

Karen paused for a moment, and then continued in a gentle and caring voice "Sweety, I think that is _his_ choice. If he wants to be with you, don't push him away. I know it can be scary, taking the next step in a relationship, but just give him a chance. He obviously cares for you, and you obviously care for him, so stop overthinking it."

Claire listened intensely to her sister and replied "I guess I just really want the date to go well. I think I am just scared that I might feel the way I did with our first date. And if I do, then what do I tell him? I mean, what will that mean? God, I hate feeling so unprepared and out of control."

Karen smiled and calmly said "Claire, firstly, your first date was horrible because you didn't want to let anyone in, I'm sorry that sounds bad, but it is the truth. Secondly, you have been crushing on this man since the first day you met him, and yes, I _know_ you _did_ , so don't lie to me…" Claire felt her cheeks grow warm at her sister's accurate assessment of her, and her hidden feelings for Owen from the start "and thirdly, he risked his life to save you and the boys, and you know as well as I do that a man that values family as much as he obviously does, is a man that you marry, like, as soon as possible. And lastly, that man is so hot you can melt chocolate on his abs, so stop bitching and get out a really sexy dress for tonight, no work clothes! Okay?"

Claire felt her heart skip a beat and she wanted to explode with giggles at her sister's description of Owen "Oh my God, Karen! What is wrong with you? Chocolate on his abs, really?"

Karen giggled a bit herself "You know what I mean. Just do it already. Or better yet, just do _him_ already."

Claire felt her cheeks heat up instantly and she felt a shyness running over her "Okay, this is getting really awkward. I'm going to go. I will talk to you later."

Karen laughed "Wear something sexy."

Claire replied smiling, her cheeks still feverish "Bye Karen." and she hung up the phone.

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It was late afternoon and Owen was still at the raptor enclosure.

Barry walked up to him and asked "Do you think they will enlarge the enclosure after what happened?"

Owen replied "Honestly, I don't know what the hell Ingen has planned for this place. But I guess they would want to put more focus on the raptors now that the raptors killed the hybrid. Better publicity."

Barry nodded, then Owen continued "Hey, I got to go. I will see you tomorrow." and he turned around and walked to his bike.

Barry yelled after him "What's the hurry?"

Owen turned around, still walking backwards to his bike, and he smiled at his friend "I got a hot date tonight."

Barry smiled and pointed at his friend "Be a gentleman."

Owen got on his bike and grinned "You know me…" and he started the bike and drove off, Barry just smiling at his friend.

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Claire didn't want to tell Karen, but she had actually thought hard about what she would wear for their second date, and she already bought something special for the evening, but now, as she stood there in a towel, wet hair, ready to get dressed, she was growing less confident.

Just then the phone rang and she saw Zach's name appear on her screen.

"Hey Zach!" she exclaimed over the phone.

"Hi Claire. What are you doing?" Zach asked his aunt and Gray shouted in the back "Hi Aunt Claire!" and Zach added "And Gray says "Hi"," and Claire couldn't believe how quickly her relationship with her nephews had blossomed.

Claire replied "Hi Gray. No, I am just getting ready for…" and she didn't want to tell her nephew about her plans for the evening, mostly because she knew he would have a little fun with that information, but, to no surprize, he already knew.

"For your date with Owen?..." he replied amusedly.

Claire pursed her lips, a sarcastic smile still on her lips "You're mom told you, didn't she?"

Then Zach said something she didn't expect at all "Not really, no. I talked to Owen this morning."

Claire felt a cold nervous energy shoot through her chest and she asked very curiously "What? You talked to _Owen_ this morning?"

Zach casually replied "Yeah, me _and_ Gray did. I mean, he is basically gonna be our uncle soon…" Zach kept his grin under control the best he could.

Claire commented light-heartedly "Okay just wait a second. We're not quite _there_ yet."

Zach just laughed.

Claire suddenly thought about the evening and her dress, and since she and her nephews were on such good terms, she though it wouldn't hurt to ask "Hey Zach, can I ask you something?"

Zach continued comically "Yeah sure, but don't ask me to have _the talk_ with you, I will get my mom for _that_ …" he joked.

Claire smiled and replied warmly jokingly "No _jackass_ , not _that_. I have this dress I want to wear for tonight, and… well… I just wanted to know if you think Owen will like it… Will it be okay if I sent you a pictu…" before she could finish her sentence Zach replied "Sure, let's see it." and Claire couldn't help smiling at her nephew's eagerness to assist his aunt.

Claire quickly took a photo of the dress she was planning on wearing and sent it to Zach.

After a few minutes Claire anxiously asked "Well? Is it okay?" desperately waiting for Zach's reply.

Then Zach finally replied casually "O yeah, you guys are definitely gonna hook up after he sees you in this…"

Claire exclaimed shocked "Zach!"

Then she heard Gray's voice "I think you're gonna look really nice, aunt Claire."

Claire smiled and replied "Thanks guys. I will see you at Christmas dinner next week."

Gray yelled "bye" and Zach replied "Talk to you later Claire. Bye."

And Claire hung up the phone and reached for the dress.

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The day had passed and night was setting in.

Claire stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her hair was coloured a bit darker than usual, she decided it would be a refreshing change, a more dark brown auburn colour, and her makeup was slightly darker tonight, fully complimenting her soft blue eyes, and then she looked at her dress. She hadn't worn anything like this in years. It was a type of cocktail dress, exposing her arms and her cleavage, but it was still a proper ladylike length, the hem of the dress barely touching her knees. The dress was a dark emerald forest green, which worked perfectly with her new dark auburn hair, and she wore matching dark green heels.

She looked at herself, at her hair, at her eyes, and her clothes, and she thought about what Zach had said, and her self-doubt shrunk more with every passing second.

Just then she heard a knock on the door.

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Owen stood in the hallway outside her, or rather, their door, dressed in dark blue jeans with a black tight fitting shirt. He wasn't someone that really cared for dressing up, but he wanted to make the night special for Claire.

He had a key to their room, but he thought it would be more appropriate to knock on the lady's door before they went on their date.

He slowly lifted his hand and knocked on the door.

A few moments passed, and as she opened the door, all the smart cheeky comments he wanted to make to lighten the mood, melted away like butter.

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Claire heard the knocks on the door and said to herself "Why is he knocking? He has a key…" she wondered as she went to the door.

A silly thought flashed in her mind _Oh please please please don't be wearing boards shorts… I'm going to be so angry if I went through all this effort for you and you are wearing…._ and as she opened the door, her sister's words sneakily invaded her mind _just do him already._

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She saw him, and he looked incredible, and if she was honest with herself, she realized exactly what Karen had meant.

He looked at her, and his eyes took all of her in, her darker hair, her makeup, and her amazingly sexy dress and the only comment that escaped his lips was "Okay, I changed my mind, let's just go to bed now."

She smiled and her eyes fell to the floor for a moment.

He smiled and he outstretched his hand, gesturing like a gentleman for her to take it.

She grabbed her purse on the table next to the door, took his hand, and closed their hotel room door behind them.

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They went to one of the park's most highly rated restaurants, since it was impossible to leave the island for the evening just to return a few hours later.

They sat outside on a balcony that overlooked the entire park.

A few of the staff members still worked even though the park was being restored, and Claire thought they were fortunate that the restaurant's best chef was there for the evening. Later Claire would learn that Owen arranged it that way especially for her.

The food was amazing and both of them enjoyed an enchanting glass of spectacular red wine.

Claire couldn't comprehend how much she relished in Owen's pleasurable company. He was charming and sweet, and he made her laugh in the silliest of ways.

Owen could see she was more than happy about how the date had turned out, and he couldn't help but mentally pat himself on the back for the good job he did.

"So, is _this_ what you had in mind for a second date?" he asked while taking another sip of his wine.

She smiled and playfully replied "Actually this is what I had in mind for an anniversary dinner…"

Owen grinned amusedly and said "I will keep that in mind."

Claire unwillingly changed the subject to a work related matter, it was after all a large part of who she was "So what do you think will happen to the park?"

Owen didn't want to talk business, but strangely Barry had asked him the same question, and it was obvious that everyone was a bit worried "Barry also asked me this. Honestly, I don't think there is any way they will close the park. Too much money involved. I guess they will just do as much damage control as they can, and then reopen with a brand new attraction."

Claire nodded and sarcastically commented "Hopefully not one that will eat anyone."

Then they both looked at each other and smirked at her comment.

Claire took another sip of her wine, and felt more relaxed and at ease after each passing moment "So, is it what you expected?"

Owen frowned slightly "What do you mean?"

She smiled coyly with a hint of seriousness "Are you still surviving, living with me?"

Owen smiled and wittily replied, also with a hint of seriousness "I think the better question is, are _you_ still surviving with _me_?"

Claire smiled and truthfully replied "Yes. I am… And I think you should spend more nights at the hotel room… It's not that far from the raptor enclosure, we just have to get you up a little earlier in the morning…" Claire realized how carefully she had listened to Karen's words.

Owen was a bit overwhelmed. He knew Claire wanted them to live together, and that she really cared for him, but he also knew that deep down she was still unsure about taking the next step in their relationship, that's way she told him to stay at the bungalow the nights he worked late. And he didn't mind, he wanted to give her the space she needed, but he also really wanted to start a life with her, and her words had just offered that life to him.

Owen smiled warmly and replied "I think we can work something out."

Claire thought about what Zach and Karen had said and she confidently asked him "By the way, I know it might be a bit sudden, but I was wondering, if you might want to come with me to my sister's Christmas dinner?"

Owen smiled at her and replied "Sure. Zach already invited me this morning."

Claire continued a bit stunned "Yes I heard he spoke to you this morning. I wasn't aware that you and my nephews got along so well."

Owen smiled "They're good kids. What's not to like?"

Just then the waiter brought two shots of tequila to the table and Owen waved the waiter kindly away, and replied "No thanks, we didn't order those…"

And Claire, to Owen's utter surprize, replied "…I did." and thanked the waiter.

Claire wanted to show Owen that she was actually a really fun person, and that she wanted to be with him, and enjoy the simple things he did.

Owen smiled and replied "I thought all diets didn't allow tequila…"

Claire smiled, "I thought we might need it for later…" and she threw back the shot.

An amused and wicked expression appeared on Owen's face, as he threw back his shot, and replied "I have to say I'm a little surprized" understatement of the year.

Claire lost her breath from the strong alcohol, but hid any coughing action of any kind. And she replied, her face scrunching up a bit at the strong taste "Surprized by what?"

Owen replied casually "At you... You weren't this open the first time I met you."

Maybe it was the alcohol talking, but Claire bluntly replied "Yes well, the first time I was a complete bitch to you, even though you had this sexy rugged look about you..." Claire wanted to kick herself and her inner voice yelled at her _Claire, shut up! You sound like a drunken prom date!_

Owen raised his eyebrows and perched his lips together amusedly "Oh, so that's why you didn't want to drink, you didn't want to make the first move…"

Claire tilted her head and smiled sarcastically "You made the first move."

Owen asked fakely innocent "And how did I do that?"

Claire's mouth gaped open in disbelief "You were the one who wanted to order tequila, and you were the one who was staring at my cleavage the whole time."

Owen laughed and replied "Firstly, I wanted tequila because you were being so damn cold towards me, and I thought I would care less if I was drunk, and secondly, I told you, I was looking at your dress, mostly because I couldn't see your cleavage…" Claire tilted her head in fake annoyance and Owen leaned closer to her and replied seductively "…which by the way, was not nearly as sexy as the dress you are wearing tonight…" and Claire's annoyance faded away and was replaced by confidence and poise at his words.

She leaned forward, her lips touching his, and she whispered softly "I think it's time we left…" and with that she placed wet lips seductively on his.

When she pulled away, Owen grinned at her and replied "…as always, lady's choice…"

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Owen and Claire walked hand in hand back to the hotel, saying almost nothing, and just enjoying each other's company.

Finally they reached their room and Owen politely opened the door for her, and they went in.

Owen wasn't the type of guy to rush a woman, and even though Claire made her intentions pretty clear at the restaurant, he left the rest of the evening in her hands.

Claire walked into their room, and she was so glad she had that awful tequila shot, as she was starting to lose her nerve and the butterflies were tearing her stomach apart. She turned to Owen and said "Hey, I will be with you in a second, I just want to get out of these clothes."

Owen wanted to make a naughty remark, but again, his gentleman nature stopped him quickly and he replied "Okay, sure." and he watched her as she went to her closet.

Owen went to the bed, sat down, and took off his shoes and shirt.

Claire walked into her closet, and she quickly got out of her emerald dress and shoes. Then she reached for a small bag in the back of her closet, and something she had purchased along with the new dress. Then she pulled the item out and held it up to her body, looking at herself in the closet mirror and told herself softly "Okay Zach, I hope you're happy, I am not wearing the pink pyjamas tonight…" and she smiled as she put on the short black nighty.

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Owen sat on the bed, and before he could undo his jeans he noticed her coming out of the closet, and his throat went a bit dry as he saw her wearing a short black nighty, exposing her thighs and porcelain skin, her dark auburn hair barely touching her shoulders, and he tried to choke out a naughty comment, but no words escaped his lips.

Claire was excited and nervous at the same time, and she half expected Owen to make a naughty comment, but his silence threw her completely off guard and she didn't know what he was thinking.

Owen got up, and Claire noticed his rugged masculine shirtless chest, and she couldn't help but become completely aware of her body's needs and desires as he walked towards her, and stopped right in front of her. Then the comment both of them were waiting for eventually came, as he playfully seductively said "Okay I don't want to misread any signals, but are you seducing me Miss Dearing?" and she couldn't help the small giggles escaping her lips as she leaned forward to him and pressed her hand lightly on his chest, pushing him backwards to the queen-sized bed, replying with a little vixen pout "I think I am…" and with that Owen sat down on the bed, his feet still touching the floor, and Claire climbed on his lap, straddling him. He placed his hands on her behind, and she threw her arms around his neck, and pulled him in towards her. She pressed her lips seductively against his, and she passionately slid her tongue into his mouth, and she felt his grip on her body tighten and she slightly groaned her tiny body into his.

Then he pulled away slightly, breaking their pace for a moment. He didn't want her to do anything she would regret in the morning. He knew she wasn't drunk, but he also knew that he would never forgive himself if she took the next step just to please him. He smiled at her caringly and asked her cautiously "You sure you want to do this?"

Claire paused for a moment, and pulled away an inch or two, losing a bit of her former confidence as the thought came to her that maybe Owen didn't want to go this fast, and for a moment she hesitatingly replied "If you don't want to, we don't have to…"

Owen couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. How could she for one second think that he didn't want to? How could she for one second think that there is any way that he would not want to be with her, emotionally or physically? And with that his grip on her tightened even more and his right hand came up and cupped her face, and he pulled her closer and said in a stern, yet playful voice "…you have no idea how badly I want to…"

At his words Claire regained her confidence, and in a way, the very passion of her soul, and she brought her hands up to his face and slid her lips seductively over his and said in her vixen voice "…then stop talking…" and she drove her lips passionately onto his, her tongue penetrating his mouth once again.

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The night air blew in from the open window and Owen could feel the breeze on his naked sweaty back.

Claire's body arched into him as his hands roamed down her waists, caressing her tenderly and forcefully. He felt her soft skin move effortlessly against his, and he smelled her intoxicating rose and wild lilies scent as his lips kissed her beautiful neck.

She felt her body vulnerably react to his passionate strong touch, and a small whimper escaped her parted lips, which sounds made his body ache with deep desire to consume her completely.

His muscles tensed up as he felt her fingers dig hard into his back.

She felt their bodies desirously caress each other, and she felt the tiny droplets of sweat forming all over her excited ravished body.

At each deep breath that escaped his lips, she pulled him closer, grinding her body even more into his. The taste of him on her lips, the essence of who he was and who she was with him, their untamed sides exploring each other, made her body react in such raw animalistic ways that she wanted to scream at the pleasure his body brought hers.

His hands roamed up to her chest and he gripped her neck gently, pulling her towards his mouth. A helpless seductive whimper escaped her red-kissed lips as she felt his lips on her neck, and she pressed her body harder into his, feeling his very heartbeat echo through her veins.

His hands moved up to her face, and he lowered his mouth onto hers, and his tongue gently stroked her open wet lips.

Another moan escaped her mouth and it drove him crazy, and he felt her body helplessly contract at his touch. She arched her back, and his lips travelled down her neck, and he placed a soft yet rugged kiss on the soft skin just above her chest.

Their hands found each other and were intimately intertwined above her head, their bodies in a motion of deep passion and desire, as the sheets curved to their luscious movements.

She felt completely defenceless and exposed in his powerful and protective grip, and she instantly lost herself in the two of them, the dark yet pure passions that were consuming both of them, forgetting the rest of the world even existed, and unknowingly, offering her very soul to him if he wanted it.

He pressed his body gently overpoweringly into hers, tightening his grip on her, claiming her as his own, as his mate, unable to imagine any sweeter sound escaping her lips, as she moaned seductively as he completely overtook her.

At that moment, both of them wanted so desperately to speak the words " _I love you"_ but neither of them did.

Their intertwined hands gripped each other tightly as they found their perfect bliss together.

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It was almost midnight, and they lay naked in each other's arms.

Her head and breasts were on his chest, her hand was making small circles on his skin.

His arm was wrapped around her tiny body, and his fingers lightly and tenderly ran up and down the soft skin of her smooth back. Owen felt his nerves get the better of him for the first time in ages. Even working with the raptors, was less nerve-racking than the thought of the words he wanted to say to her at that very moment. He gathered all his strength and coolly and calmly asked her "If I tell you something, you promise not to run away?" he was thankful that the words came out more playfully than he had imagined.

Claire was so caught up in her current euphoric state of happiness that she didn't actually register what he was saying, and she peacefully replied "…I won't run away…"

"…I think I love you, Miss Dearing…" the words flowed out of Owen's mouth easier than he would ever have imagined.

Claire heard his words as clearly as daylight, and her head snapped up, and she stared amazedly and hopefully at him.

Her moment of silence was killing him, but he remained calm. For a second he thought that maybe his timing might have been completely off, but there was no way he could or wanted to take back the words, and he decided to embrace whatever came next, good or bad, and before his mind could torture him any further, she reacted.

Claire fought with all her strength, and miraculously she managed to keep the small tear that wanted to creep up at bay. She lifted the hand that was on his chest, and brought it up to his face. Then she pulled herself up towards his lips, cupped his cheek and softly whispered to him "…I _know_ that _I_ love _you_ … I'm just _really_ glad you said it first…" and she lifted herself toward his lips and kissed him deeply, his arm tightening around her, pulling her closer to him, and he realized in that moment how truly happy she made him and he promised himself that he would rather die, than live this life without her by his side.

 **NOTE: Hi guys, it was my first 'intimate' scene ever. I didn't want to make it skanky or pornographic, I wanted to make it passionate and romantic. I really hope it was okay xoxo**


	20. Chapter 20

**CHAPTER 20**

 **Hey guys!**

 **Sorry for not updating sooner. I honestly didn't make you wait on purpose. Actually I started (trying) writing my first book yesterday. So if anyone has any advice for me, please leave me comment or send me a message. I would really appreciate any and all help.**

 **I have an idea for this chapter, and for the next. But honestly guys, I don't know how many more chapters I will write, but this one WILL NOT BE THE LAST. And I might not update every day. But I will try.**

 **Enjoy.**

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The aroma of coffee invaded Claire's senses and she stirred slowly, the sunlight touching her skin. She felt the cool silk sheets sliding over her unclothed body as she awoke from her passionate dreamlike state. She slowly opened her eyes as she felt his weight sitting down next to her.

"Morning beautiful." Owen's cheerful voice touched her ears.

She lifted her head from the soft pillow and dazedly replied with a half asleep smile "…morning…"

Owen couldn't help but smirk at the irony as it presented itself. Claire, who was the workaholic between the two of them, was still in bed as the sun came up, and here Owen was, the free spirited adventurer who never cared for time, bringing his still-semi-control-freak girlfriend coffee in bed, something previous women in his life always seemed to do for him. Although he had to admit that none of the previous women in his life held his heart like this gorgeous red haired woman beside him did.

Claire sat up, taking the coffee mug from Owen's hand, him noticing all too clearly that she did not even bother to pull the sheets over her exposed shoulders and feminine curves complimenting her upper body. Owen stared at her with a naughty yet somewhat amused grin on his face at the thought of Claire being so comfortable with him. He thought about the night before and how she opened up to him, body and soul, and how completely unprepared he was for her making the first move like she did, but being unprepared didn't mean that he was complaining at all.

Claire took a sip of the coffee and smiled back at him as she noticed Owen staring at her, and she asked curiously "What?" with a hint of nervous laughter.

Owen leaned toward her, steadying his bodyweight on his arm, bringing his lips closure to hers, and gave her a playful peck on the cheek, then he pulled away slightly and smilingly replied against her cheek "I don't want you to freak out, but I think you're gonna be late…" and with that Claire quickly glanced at the alarm clock on the small table next to their bed and she saw that Owen was right.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed and quickly put down the coffee mug and grabbed the sheets in an attempt to cover her body slightly and headed for the bathroom to shower and get dressed, then Owen smirked with a small laugh and replied, more to himself than to her "You said that _last_ night too..."

Claire almost reached the bathroom when she heard his comment. She turned around, tilted her head and perched her lips, giving him an annoyed stare, a small smile touching the corners of her lips but she doing her best to hide it. Owen's smirk grew as he gave her a wink, and she couldn't help but fully smile at him.

Owen stood up and walked towards her, both of them still smirking at each other. He placed his arm around her waist and pulled her lovingly closure "I need to go. See you tonight?" he told her as he gently tightened his grip around her body, which was still only covered in their sheets.

"I have a meeting at five but I won't be late." Claire told him, actually dreading the thought of working so late. It was so new to her, the feeling of work becoming more of an unavoidable burden than a life passion.

Just then Owen pulled her closure to him, kissed her softly, and when he pulled away he mockingly replied in a sweet voice "Don't worry. I'll tell my other girlfriends to leave before you get back".

Claire perched her lips again and titled her head, and Owen just smiled and winked at her "I got to go." he cheerfully said and kissed her on the cheek, and before she knew it, he was out the door, a broad smile appearing on her face and a deep feeling of happiness overwhelming her.

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Barry couldn't help but grin as he saw Owen get off his motorbike, noticing instantly that his friend was in an unusually good mood.

Owen reached his friend and cheerfully greeted him "Good morning. So what's on the agenda for today?" noticing Barry was smiling and shaking his head.

Owen frowned a bit and asked interestedly, trying to hide the smile on his face "What?"

Barry replied casually "I _told_ you my friend, women vexes the mind, heart and the body."

Owen just grinned and replied "Well, then I guess you were right." then he continued "So any news from Ingen?"

Barry's composure instantly changed from mocking to serious, and he paused slightly "You are not going to like it."

Owen lost his smile and he focused his eyes intensely on his friend and co-worker "What the hell do they want _now_?"

Barry told Owen what he had heard earlier that morning "We just got the word this morning. Ingen is reconsidering initiating the Natural Breeding Program."

Owen exclaimed "Are they out of their minds?! "

Barry continued "Apparently Ingen felt that it would restore the image of the park after the Indominus hybrid fiasco. I also heard they're planning on expanding all the enclosures to all the unused areas of the island in an attempt to completely upgrade the park. "

Owen turned around and placed his hand on the back of his head "God dammit! The whole point of this park is to keep the animals contained in a calm environment and to keep the visitors safe. If they put in males with the females, soon you will have a drastic shift in animal behavioural patterns. There's no telling how the animals will react to humans in a competitive territorial mating environment. God, can they honestly not understand that concept!" Owen was starting to yell, but Barry had no choice but to make it worse "There is more bad news…" then Barry gave Owen a moment.

Owen turned to Barry and replied "Oh shit. What else?"

Barry hesitantly answered Owen's question "Ingen wants to implement the program by using the raptors first."

Owen choked on his words a bit as he exclaimed "Are they fucking insane?! We can't put a male in with Blue and the others! Mostly because they would probably kill him, but more importantly, I don't want a random male to come in and kill my pack!" Then Owen paused for a while and then yelled into the air "Fuck!"

Barry completely understood the reason for Owen's disapproval of Ingen's new plan, but there was in fact nothing they could do about it. He and Owen worked for the park, and unfortunately, they all had to do what Ingen wanted, or they would be forced to resign their post. Barry replied calmly "Owen, you know as well as I do there is nothing we can do about it. This is what Ingen wants, and we can either stay, or we can leave. And I know that neither of us wants to leave."

Owen lowered his head and shook it unbelievingly, and finally replied defeated "When are they planning on introducing the male?"

Barry knew the exact answer, and even though he really wanted to give Owen a better answer to swallow, at least for the moment, he decided against lying to his friend "…in the next week or so…"

Owen's eyes went wide, but he remained maliciously calm, and just took a deep breath "This is such a bad idea."

Barry replied "I know. But that's what Ingen wants."

Owen sarcastically replied "Yeah, and what Ingen wants always works out great for the rest of us." and he turned around and walked toward the gate of the enclosure, in an attempt to leave the discussion for a moment, and to see how his raptor pack was doing.

 **NOTE: Hey guys! I know this is a very short chapter. I just wanted you guys to know that I am still planning on writing a few chapters in this story. They might just be shorter chapters and I might not update every day. Will try and update soon xoxo**


	21. Chapter 21

**CHAPTER 21**

 **Hi guys!**

 **I don't know if I am allowed to ask this on this platform, but I created a page (Juvon Luna Wolf) on a certain social network. If you guys have the time, and if you want to, please hit "like". Trying to become a famous writer and if it wasn't for you guys, I would have never gotten the confidence to even try.**

 **Now back to the story.**

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Claire walked optimistically into the control room and for the first time since she was appointed as the park's operations manager, she noticed how dark and gloomy the room truly was. She looked at all the employees who were all focused on the monitors, with their morning beverage of choice either in hand or on their stations, and the thought entered her mind _we really need to lighten the mood of this place._

Claire slightly grinned at her new found cheerful team building spirit as she walked toward Lowery and Vivian who were caught in a casual conversation, and again Claire noticed something that she never had before. She noticed how Lowery stared at Vivian when he spoke to her, she noticed how Vivian kept her focus on the monitors, only partly yet politely acknowledging what Lowery was saying, she noticed how there were clearly unspoken emotions below the surface of Lowery's comical exterior, and suddenly a feeling of true compassion for Lowery spread in Claire's mind.

She walked directly to them and as always, Lowery turned around first and greeted Claire "Good morning _boss_." Lowery's voice was sarcastic but not at all hostile, never ever hostile. Vivian turned to Claire and said in her normal warm but reserved tone of voice "Good morning." Claire smiled and said cheerfully "Good morning friends." she didn't actually consider using the word _friends_ but it just kind of slipped out this morning and she was certain the one to blame was Mr Grady.

Lowery instantly raised his eyebrows at her choice of words and asked amusedly "Are you stoned?"

Vivian's eyes snapped up towards Claire at hearing Lowery's question, curious herself of why their boss was in such a good mood.

Claire coyly replied "No. Just in a good mood."

Vivian smiled but quickly lost interest in the conversation. Lowery on the other hand, was not letting the subject go so casually, and he mockingly continued "Good mood? You have _never_ in the three years that I've known you, been in a _good_ mood. You are lightly less frigid on some days, but never in a good mood. What's going on?"

Claire again replied unfazed "I have _no idea_ what you are talking about."

Then Lowery noticed it. He looked at Claire's hair, her make-up, her clothes, all were different, more free spirited in a small subtle way, and then he wittily replied "Oh good God… You're _doing_ someone!" his voice carried farther than he originally intended and a kind of silence quickly spread over the room, some other employers glancing at them, giving awkward gossiping little smiles, then going back to work.

Claire's eyes grew a bit wider in a slight state of embarrassment, but she remained quiet.

Lowery actually regretted his timing and choice of words. He was truly amused by the revelation that Claire actually willingly engaged in some form of human interaction, but he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable in front of their co-workers, and he certainly didn't want to ruin any _friendship_ they had, even if it was only a fraction of the concept of a real friendship.

Lowery was about to awkwardly turn back to his monitor when Claire leaned downward towards him. A tiny part of him was afraid she might fire him on the spot, but to his utter amazement, she smiled at him, and whispered cockily "…maybe…" and Lowery was literally speechless.

Claire smiled and stood up straight again, regaining her business composure.

Lowery grinned in utter amusement, shook his head, and he finally found his breath and playfully replied "No _freaking_ way."

Claire hid her smile and casually said "Alright, now let's get back to work." and Lowery and Vivian quickly glanced at each other and exchanged quick subtle smirks.

Lowery couldn't resist the small innocent comment escaping his lips just above a whisper, "You should seriously get laid more often." and Claire smiled as she heard it.

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Claire took a luscious sip of her coffee and the sweet strong liquid slid down her throat, warming her already content soul. The coffee in the control room was wonderful and rich, the best money could buy to be honest, but by no means did it compare in the slightest to the perfect cup of coffee Owen brought her that very morning, and with that her eyes closed for a moment and her mind drifted to him.

She saw his beautiful pure smile and his gorgeous earth colored eyes. She could almost smell his masculine untamed scent touching her nose slightly. She could feel the essence of his arms protectively embracing her, and before her thoughts could pull her deeper into her desires, she was pulled back by Lowery's voice "Should I come back later?" he mockingly asked her as he noticed her daydreaming.

Claire's eyes snapped open semi bewildered, although trying her best to hide it, and attempted to casually reply "Shouldn't you be at your work space?"

Lowery reached passed Claire and grabbed a cup "Hey _you_ were the one who said we were _friends_." he reached for the coffee pot, and poured him a cup "And _friends_ tend to have casually chitchats at the coffee station.

Claire stared at him for a moment, a small accepting smile tugging at her lips.

Lowery took her friendly composure as a gesture of acceptance and he joyfully continued amused, and curious as hell "So, _who_ do we have to thank for your good mood?"

He looked up at her as he took a sip from his coffee, and Claire finally said to herself _Oh what the hell_ and she took a deep breath, and replied honestly "…Owen."

Lowery paused for a moment, then lowered the cup, and a small almost moronic smile appeared on his face, and he confidently stated the obvious "The Indiana Jones raptor dude? I so _knew_ that was gonna happen."

Claire was still a bit hesitant in opening up to Lowery as a friend, but since she didn't really have many of those, and considering the fact that Lowery basically saved her life, as well as Owen's and her nephews', she decided to try "And if you must know… We're actually living together."

Lowery's moronic yet kind smile remained on his face and he replied, after taking another sip of his coffee "Wow, I didn't think he would ask you to move in so quickly."

Claire determinedly corrected him "I actually asked _him_ to move in with _me_."

Lowery's moronic smile turned into true warmth, and he playfully replied "Thank God, because all of us like _this version of_ _you_ so much better."

Claire smiled and then her phone buzzed in her pocket and Lowery casually replied friendly "You better get that. I need to get back." and with that he turned around and left her to answer her phone.

Claire stared at Lowery as he walked away and for the first time she thought of him as a good guy, a good co-worker, a good friend.

She looked down at her vibrating phone as she saw Zach's number flashing on her screen.

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"Hey, Zach." Claire spoke into the phone.

"Hey, Claire. You busy?" her nephew's voice rang through the phone.

She smiled and replied "I'm just at work" and she realized she had _never_ in her entire life used those words in that order before. It felt strange and wonderful at the same time, and she continued "Shouldn't you be in school?"

Zach innocently replied "What makes you think I'm _not_?"

Claire perched her lips and semi concerned and questioningly replied "Zach?…"

A small laughter escaped Zach's lips "Relax… We're only going back to school in a few weeks."

Claire's smile returned to her lips and she replied "Alright. I trust you. So what's going on?"

Zach replied coolly "It's about Christmas dinner next week. Mom wants you guys to be here at four. And she said don't be late so…"

Claire interrupted unsurely "Wait… Zach… Just let me talk to Owen toni…"

Zach quickly corrected her "I spoke to him this morning. He said you guys will be here. So we'll see you guys next week. Oh crap, I got to go. Talk to you later." and then Zach hung up.

Claire just stood there phone in hand, not knowing how her life changed so drastically in the last month or so, and how she couldn't imagine it any other way.

 **NOTE: Hi guys. This was actually supposed to be part of the last chapter. But I find it a bit easier writing shorter chapters at this stage. I will try and make some of the next ones longer. Again if you guys want to, please "like" my page. And thanks for all the positive reviews and compliments xoxo**


	22. Chapter 22

**CHAPTER 22**

 **Hi guys! Firstly a big thanks to everyone who "Liked" my page. And a huge thanks for your support and great compliments and constructive criticism.**

 **Secondly, I will try and make this chapter a bit longer. But let's see how it goes.**

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"Charlie! Back off!" Owen yelled from above as Charlie kept snapping her jaws at Blue, and Blue clearly bearing her teeth at Charlie. Owen raised his voice more "I mean it Charlie! Back off!" as Charlie and Blue tensed up more.

Charlie quickly snapped her head up, staring at Owen on the railing above the raptor enclosure, and a light snarl escaped the raptor's jaws. Owen kept his eyes on Charlie, and to his complete relief, Charlie looked back at Blue, lowered her head submissively and started to walk backwards, clearly still accepting, at least for the moment, Blue's status as the beta.

Owen breathed a sigh of relief as Barry's voice came from behind him "What is going on with Charlie? This is the second time today that she has challenged Blue." he paused for a moment.

Owen sighed and replied unsurely "It must be the damn Indominus taking charge as alpha. It completely screwed up the pack dynamic."

Barry looked at the raptors then back at Owen "But that was weeks ago. Do you really think the hybrid could have changed the pack's dynamic to such an extent?"

Owen wasn't sure of anything "Honestly I don't know. But Charlie and Delta are more aggressive now, and Echo is starting to show signs of a rogue, almost like an omega. She doesn't want to eat when we feed them and she keeps to herself, behaviour she never exhibited."

Blue let out a small grow from below, as if to get Owen's attention.

Owen and Barry looked at Blue, who was bobbing her head slightly from the one side to the other.

Barry asked curiously, yet with a strong hint of concern "What about Blue? Have you noticed any strange behaviour from her?"

Owen kept his eyes fixed on Blue as she walked closure to them, almost seeming to listen to his every word, and he plainly replied, hiding his own concerns "No. Not that I can see. She is still the dominant member in the pack…"

Barr y turned towards Owen and asked "…but?"

Owen's lips pulled back forming a slim thin line, and he frowned while shaking his head slightly from left to right "urgh… she isn't putting Charlie and Delta in their place. And that concerns me."

Barry wasn't completing following Owen's argument and asked "What do you mean?"

Owen continued, his concern becoming more apparent "The beta needs to be firm. She needs to be dominant, aggressively dominant if necessary. Usually when a lower rank animal challenges the higher rank animal, the higher rank animal will aggressively, even violently, defend its position in the pack…"

Barry commented "Like wolves…" it was more a factual statement than a question.

Owen continued "Exactly. But Blue is not acting like that at all. It's if though she isn't certain of her status as the beta anymore. She is not disciplining Charlie and Delta for challenging her, she is just defending herself on the occasions when Charlie and Delta decide to challenge her. And that is not like her."

Barry looked at Blue as she turned away from him and Owen, as if she lost interest in her criticisms of her and he asked, slightly more worried than he was a moment ago "So what do you want to do? Should we separate them?"

Owen actually thought about that, but he knew that was not going to be the solution, in fact, that could create a bigger problem for them, especially when the raptors were reintroduced after being separated "No. I think that would make it worse, separating them. They need to reconnect as a pack. God knows how we're gonna accomplish that."

Barry suddenly had a thought, and reluctantly said to Owen "Maybe a male _would_ solve the problem…"

Owen quickly glanced at his friend, and a sarcastic smile appeared on his face "You're kidding right?"

Barry plainly, yet strangely optimistically replied "I know this is not what we wanted Owen, but think about it. You can't interact with the pack on a primal level, at least not completely, and when they start to violently attack each other, or maybe even try to kill each other for higher pack status, you won't be able to do anything about it. It's not like we can just go into the enclosure and pull them apart like dogs fighting over scraps."

Owen considered his friend's words carefully, completely annoyed at all the shit Ingen already put them through, and replied bluntly "It might work." then he continued even more annoyed "But it might _not!_ It might be the _worst idea in the history of bad ideas_ because we have _no idea_ what will happen _if_ , oh I'm sorry Ingen, _when_ a male is introduced into the enclosure!" Owen's voice went highly sarcastic with a hint of new found anger for the idiots of Ingen that undeniably loved to play God with their assets, as well as with all the people who were attending to those assets for the company.

Barry just stared at his friend and calmly said "Owen, think of the situation now. The pack is unstable, you said it yourself, and there is not much you or anyone can do about it. You said we shouldn't separate them, and I completely agree with you. But they can't keep interacting like this. We both know it won't end well. So let's just see what the introduction of the male into the enclosure will do." Barry paused for a moment.

Owen stared into the enclosure as he leaned forward, resting his upper body on his arms slightly. He remained quiet as he considered Barry's advice.

Barry continued "Owen, you are my friend. No one knows these animals better than you. No one has the same bond with them as you do. If you tell me this will not work, then I believe you. Then I will stand with you in convincing Ingen to call off this insane agenda of theirs. But then we will still need to find a solution, otherwise Blue and the others might hurt each other very badly, or even kill each other. " he paused and then said "What do _you_ want to do?"

Owen saw Charlie slowly walking passed him. She looked up at Owen, then she looked at Blue who was standing close by, and Owen's senses went on high alert as he watched the two raptors. Then Charlie looked back at Owen, as if to say yes-dumbass-I-know-you-are-watching-me, then she turned around and walked off deeper into the enclosure.

Owen turned to Barry and replied reluctantly "Let Ingen know we're ready. Let them bring the male." and with that Barry nodded and left Owen behind, Owen staring at his raptors, hoping and praying for the best.

 **NOTE: Sorry guys, another short chapter. Thanks again to everyone following / reading / reviewing my story. I really appreciate it so much. Again if you guys want to, and if you have the time, please go to FB and Like my page (Juvon Luna Wolf). I would really like to stay in contact with you guys. (I apologize if I am not allowed to request this on this platform.)**


	23. Chapter 23

**CHAPTER 23 : re-post : sorry guys last time promise : I think I got most of the spelling mistakes now**

 **Hey guys!**

 **Sorry for not updating sooner. I struggled a bit with this chapter.**

 **Let's see if I can do a good job.**

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Owen's mind was churning as the thought of the introduction of the male raptor to the pack weighed heavy on his conscious thoughts. He walked down the hall on the floor of their hotel room, and yet he didn't even really notice where he was walking to. His feet led him back to their room but his mind was consumed by worry and doubt. _What happened to the pack? Why are they acting like that? Was it the Indominus?_ his thoughts swam all over the place. A cold thought emerged between all the random thoughts… _Was it Claire? Was it because she established herself as the other alpha? It could be… You can't be an alpha and not interact with the raptors every day…._ he wanted to stop and scream with frustration as he honestly didn't know the answer to any of his questions, but his mind gave him no peace and continued to tear his insides apart as he walked toward the room he shared with Claire… _Maybe Claire should come with me to the enclosure… Maybe seeing her might change the dynamic back to a stable nature… Or maybe she has nothing to do with it…. But I can't know for sure…_ and Owen finally reached their door. He took out the magnetic key Claire had given him, lifted it toward the electronic lock and opened the door.

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Claire was strangely delighted when her meeting with the Ingen representatives was concluded early that evening and she truly couldn't wait to get home. Get home and take off her high heels, get home and throw herself a glass of deep red wine, get home to rugged charming loving Mr Grady. Then she realized that _home_ was probably not the accurate word for a hotel situated on the same grounds as the place you worked for, but it was home to her, and Owen made it feel that way.

The moment Claire walked into their room, Owen wasn't there yet and she found herself feeling a bit disappointed in some unexplained way. She was so hoping that he would be home when she got there, but she also understood that Owen didn't work the same hours as she did. Most of her meetings and appointments were scheduled three months in advance, even four in some cases, where Owen's hours were more moment to moment affairs.

She walked into the empty apartment and lightly closed the door behind her.

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Owen stepped into the dark hotel room, a slight glare of light shining from the kitchen area of the hotel room. As he stepped deeper into the room, all his worries melted away as he heard her soothing voice calling out to him "Owen, is that you?". He couldn't help but feel a sense of happiness and contentment overtake him as he called back to her "Yeah it's me. What are you doing?" as he walked closer to the faint light, which he now realized was coming from one or two small kitchen lights, but his question was instantly answered as the aromatic scent of spices and pasta touched his nose. He walked into the kitchen area and couldn't help but grin at the amusing and extremely naturally sexy image in front of his eyes.

Claire was cooking, which he actually learned recently that she was more than able to do, and do very well when he thought about it, still wearing her work clothes which consisted of black pencil skirt and a light pinkish button blouse. He guessed the two items missing were most likely a matching black jacket and matching black high heels, although he left early that morning, so it was only a guess, and at this stage, he couldn't figure out why the hell he was worried about what she was wearing. He looked at her feet and noticed that she was wearing fluffy black slippers and he couldn't help but smile at her.

Claire noticed him entering the kitchen and she turned around slightly and smiled "Hey." then she turned back to keep an eye on the sauce and pasta cooking in front of her.

Owen casually walked up towards her, stopping behind her, his chest pressing slightly up against her back, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, and leaned down as his lips lightly kissed the back of her neck.

"What's the occasion? " he sweetly whispered against her neck.

She smiled and turned her head backwards a bit, glancing at him, and she joyfully replied "No occasion. Just in the mood for some Italian. And honestly I'm a bit tired of the hotel's food. " and she leaned backward and gave him a small sweet kiss on his lips, then she pulled away, and turned her attention back to her cooking. "Do want some wine?" she asked as she gestured to the wine bottle next to her.

Owen let go of her waist and leaned over and grabbed her wine glass in his hand, and brought it to his lips, taking a small sip. Claire just amusedly stared at him as he stole a sip of her wine. "Hey _caveman_ , that's mine." she jokingly replied.

Owen swallowed and then smiled at her "And _this_ is _mine_ …" and he leaned over, placed his hand lightly on her cheek and pulled her lips to his, and kissed her gently. She wanted to protest, tease him some more, but she was powerless as his soft lips caressed hers. After a moment or two, Owen pulled back, and she stared at him, a small grin appearing on his face and he said in a playful seductive voice "There, now we're even…" She smiled and replied light-heartedly "God, what am I going to do with you?"

He smiled and winked, comically replying "Anything you want babe." Then he continued "So, should I set the table for us?"

Claire gasp a bit and replied "Oh damn, I forgot about that I will…" she wanted to say that she would do it just now, but Owen interrupted her "Don't worry babe, I got it." and he went off to find some plates and cutlery.

As Owen was digging around in the kitchen for everything they needed, Claire decided this was a good time to discuss something that has been bothering her for a while. She took a deep breath and continued "Listen babe…" and she couldn't believe she had just used _that_ word, so informal, so unlike her, so natural, and Owen noticed it too, instantly, but he decided not to bring her attention to it, not now anyway. Owen merely continued searching for plates and cutlery and he replied "Yeah, I'm here."

Claire took the food of the expensive top quality steel stove and turned it off and turned around to face him, and she continued "I was thinking… About Christmas dinner…"

Owen found the items he was looking for and started to walk toward the dining room, but he paused slightly as he heard her tone of voice, so worried in a way. He set down the items on the kitchen counter and intently listened to what she was going to say next. He couldn't wait for her, so he asked "Did you change your mind?" hoping to God that she didn't, because it was actually very important to him to officially meet her family. Maybe he was just brought up in that traditional way, but if you start to date a woman, you meet her family.

She instantly shook her head "No not at all. I just…"

Owen could see she was struggling to get the words out. He walked toward her. When he reached her, he wrapped his arms around her and stared deep into her eyes, and spoke softly "Claire, what's going on?"

She looked up at him, and suddenly felt like an idiot for worrying about something she knew Owen would be fine with. She breathed out and continued "It's stupid. But, I just want you to know that I don't want you to feel obligated to go to this dinner…"

He instantly frowned and his face clearly showed that he meant to say _what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about-you-crazy-woman_ but he merely sweetly and tenderly replied "Tell me what's going on babe. Just be honest. What's bothering you?"

Claire kept her eyes on him as his arms were still gently wrapped around her body, and she placed her hands softly on his chest "I just don't want you to feel that all of this is happening too fast…"

At her comment, an unspoken worry and concern actually started awaking in Owen's heart, but in a _whole different context_ than Claire was speaking about. He knew he loved Claire, and he wanted her by his side, possibly for the rest of his life, but now her uncertain comment put the doubt in his own mind. He knew what he wanted to do, but he needed to know what _she_ truly wanted. He tightened his grip around her and pulled her closer and his voice turned serious, yet still caring and gentle "Do _you_ think we're moving too fast?"

There was a silent pause between them, and she wanted to instantly protest _no_ , but he didn't give her time to answer as he continued "Because I am _exactly_ where I want to be, with the woman I want to be with."

Her heart warmed and her hands came up and took his face in them, and she pulled him downwards a bit, and she smiled and replied in a soft whisper "No. I think we are _exactly_ where _we_ need to be." and with that she pulled him toward her and kissed him. Owen instantly felt her love for him and his arms tightened around her, as if something was going to steel her away from him at any moment. When Owen finally pulled away, he couldn't help but lighten their mood with a witty comment "Don't worry. If you want to dump me after Christmas dinner, I won't cry. I promise" and with that she perched her lips in a slightly mocking smile, and he pulled her closer and kissed her on her forehead.

 **Note: Sorry guys for taking so long with the update. This chapter didn't work at first. But I think the finished product is actually really sweet.**


	24. Chapter 24

**CHAPTER 24**

 **Hi guys!**

 **Sorry for not updating in a while.**

 **This might be the second last chapter.**

 **I will see how it goes.**

 **Enjoy.**

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Claire and Owen were on their way.

The day of Christmas dinner at the Mitchell house had finally arrived and Claire couldn't understand why she was so nervous about the whole thing. She had gone to Karen's house for dinner on numerous occasions before, well not lately but in the past, and all of them were mostly the same. Karen and Scott would greet her kindly and invite her in, they would drink a glass of wine and catch up on the new developments in each other's lives, at least to some extent, then they would go to the dining room table and dinner would be served along with some friendly conversation that was usually not particularly interesting, if Claire had to be honest. Afterwards Claire usually left, but on most occasions, Karen and Scott would normally enjoy an after dinner drink before settling in for the evening.

This time seemed different though.

Maybe it was different because all the previous times, Claire had attended the dinner by herself, without any obligation to impress anyone. Not that she had to impress anyone on _this_ occasion, but she had a sense of _need for approval_ gnawing at her soul, and she couldn't understand what the reason was for it. Karen had rooted for Owen before she had _even met_ him, before Claire _even knew she_ herself was rooting for Owen, and Claire couldn't care less what Scott thought of her boyfriend, not that she ever brought a _boyfriend_ to Karen's house for Scott _to have any thoughts_ about.

When she thought about it, the last time she introduced a date, not boyfriend but merely a date, to Karen and Scott, she ended up hating the guy even more than her family did, not that she truly considered Scott Mitchell "family" in the true sense of the word. He had always been friendly and hospitable towards Claire, she couldn't deny that for a moment, but there was always a hint of arrogance and egotism from his side, as if he didn't fully respect women who had too many independently strong thoughts and opinions. Claire usually just ignored Scott's annoying traits, mostly because firstly, she knew that Karen loved him, even though she herself could not understand why and secondly, because he was her sister's husband after all. The thirdly only recently started to matter to her, being that Scott was the father of her nephews, which meant more to her _now_ than she ever would have imagined before. All those aspects had to be enough for friendly interactions based on common courtesy between "family" members.

Maybe _this time_ was also different because _this time_ , _Owen_ was with her. Maybe it was because Owen meant so much to her and that she wanted so desperately for Karen, and even Scott, to approve of him. Claire actually knew that Karen would forever be in Owen Grady's debt for saving the two most precious people in her life, but she didn't want to expect too much on the first dinner.

 _God what is wrong with me? Why am I so nervous? It's just dinner with Karen and her family. I've survived far worse than a simply dinner. God I really hope this goes well…_

"Why are you so quiet?" Owen asked amusedly from the driver seat of Claire's Mercedes.

She snapped out of her thoughts and turned her gaze on him "What? No… I'm just thinking..."

He grinned amusedly and inquired with an extra level of interest "Thinking _about_?"

She didn't really know what she was truly thinking, or why she was so worried, and she responded with a small smile "Just a bit nervous, I guess. I haven't been to Karen's in a long time."

Owen focused his eyes on the road and replied with a slight chuckle in his voice " _Nervous?_ Shouldn't _I_ be the _nervous_ one?"

Claire quickly realized how silly the thought of it all was and let out a tiny breath "I don't know what is wrong with me…"

Owen smiled and wittily commented "Well you tend to _overthink_ things, like you are doing _now._ "

She perched her lips, trying to hide her smile, but failed quote miserably in her attempt. He reached over to her side and took her hand firmly in his, and brought her hand up to his lips and gently kissed the soft skin of her fingers, and spoke in a caring voice "Hey." his voice just above a strong whisper "I'm here with you, babe… I'll _always_ be here with you." and his words soothed her heart and her soul.

She smiled and took a deep breath, her whole body relaxing instantly and she teasingly asked "God, how are you _so good_ at _this_?"

He smiled and playfully replied "I'm just naturally charming. It's kind of a gift."

"I meant good at c _hanging the situation_ to whatever you want." she quickly replied.

He frowned but his smile grew wider "What? Where have I _ever_ done _that_?"

Her eyes grew a little in bewilderment and she couldn't help the high pitched voice accompanying her sarcastic smile "Oh come on. That _I-am-so-charming-everything-always-goes-my-way_ thing you do. It's extremely annoying." she giggled a bit without knowing it.

"Oh _that_ thing. Well, the ladies love it. It's kind of the Owen Grady version of a pickup line." he winked when she titled her head at his comical remark. He continued "But it _obviously_ didn't work on you." he joked.

She replied with a sarcastic smile " _Obviously not._ "

There was a silence between them for a while as they just smiled at each other.

Owen focused his eyes back on the road, letting go of Claire's hand for a moment to safely keep the vehicle on the icy road.

Claire's thoughts wondered to work for a moment, mostly in an attempt to silence the last bit of nerves still clawing at her "So what happened with the male raptor? Did Ingen confirm when they will be introducing him into the enclosure?"

Owen did not want to ruin the holiday mood, but he would be lying if he said _that exact question_ wasn't weighing slightly on his mind, yet he tried to stir the conversation in another direction with a teasing remark "Hey maybe we shouldn't tell your family we work together. They might think you go around seducing your co-workers." he joked.

She smiled and said "They already know we worked together, _dumbass_." her tone cheerfully teasing.

Owen acted intrigued and humorously commented "God I love a woman that talks dirty." and neither of them could stop the laughter that followed as they came ever closer to their destination.

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Owen turned into the Mitchell's driveway and Claire looked at the house as they drove in, fully lit by various colours of Christmas lights. Karen and their mother always went all out during the holidays, something Claire and her father never really cared to do as they saw it as a silly waste of time.

They pulled up to the house and Owen brought the car to a stop. Claire looked at the house she hadn't seen in so long. It looked exactly the same, and yet, completely new and different. She realized in that moment that she hadn't been there in ages and a certain measure of gratitude and appreciation for Karen's continuous support and love for her came over Claire. Karen had always been there for her and Claire deeply wished that she had been there for Karen, at least more than she had been in the last few years.

Owen turned towards Claire and saved her from her inner thoughts yet again "Hey…" he said before she opened her door. She turned toward him with a confused look on her face, confused as to what he was about to say, and even a bit worried on some level that he had changed his mind about the dinner. She anxiously waited for him to continue.

He leaned over towards her, brought his hand up to her face and cupped her cheek lovingly. She smiled as he pulled her tenderly but forcefully toward him, placing his masculine lips on hers, and for a moment she could she tasted true happiness on his lips as she breathed him in deeply.

She pulled away from him, staring directly into his beautiful naturally green eyes.

He smiled at her warmly and whispered to her "Remember what I said… I'm _here with you._ " and he paused for a moment as he took in the sight of her natural beauty and her blue eyes staring back at him, then continued in a cheerfully optimistic voice "Come on. I'll get the wine in the back. Nothing says _happy holidays_ like expensive alcohol." and they both got out of the car.

Just then Karen came jogging out of the house.

"Hey you guys!" she exclaimed cheerfully "You're here!"

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Owen got the wine out of the car while Claire went to Karen.

Karen threw her arms around Claire and hugged her tightly "It's _so good_ to see you" she said against Claire's cheek. Claire embraced her sister snugly and she felt an essence of a small tear touching the corner of her eye.

Karen pulled away but kept her arms around Claire. She quickly glanced over Claire's shoulder and saw a smiling Owen walking towards them.

Karen smiled and whispered enthusiastically to Claire "Oh my God, you actually brought him with you. I'm so proud of you." and Claire couldn't help the tiny embarrassed yet happy smile spreading across her lips.

Karen pulled away from Claire as Owen finally reached them.

"I think it's a good time to properly introduce myself. I'm Owen." Owen said to Karen in a friendly warm voice. They had previously met before for a brief moment when Karen and her husband came to get Zach and Gray after the events at the park, but this had been the first time he could properly introduce himself, which was very important to Owen. A gentleman _always_ properly introduced himself. It was just how things were done. It was just how he was taught.

He stretched out his hand to Karen, but she slapped it away and threw her arms around him. Claire was a bit caught off guard, and so was Owen, but both of them just smiled curiously.

Karen hugged Owen tightly and said with a raw honesty of emotion "I should've have thanked you before for keeping my boys safe. Thank you." Claire just smiled at the revelation before her, the weight of worries that her family wouldn't approve of Owen, lifting instantly off her shoulders.

Owen had a completely different reaction.

He stood speechless, his arms around Claire's sister, genuinely astounded by Karen's unexpected appreciation for him. He didn't want to tell Claire, but he had also been nervous about the dinner, about officially meeting Karen and making a good impression, and _this_ was just more than he could ever have hoped for. He looked up and saw Claire's smile, and he smiled back at her.

Karen pulled away from Owen and he saw the one or two droplets of tears in her eyes.

Owen looked at Karen speaking in a considerate yet serious voice "There is _no way_ I would have let _anything_ happen to those kids." and Karen just stood there and smiled in true gratefulness.

"Come on. Let's go inside" Karen said cheerfully, shaking away all her current overwhelmed emotions, and lead Owen and Claire into her home.

 **Note: I think this chapter worked kind of well. The next chapter might be the last one. But I will see. Give me a little time to think about it. Will update as soon as I can xoxo**


	25. Chapter 25

**CHAPTER 25**

 **Hi guys.**

 **Sorry for not updating sooner. I wanted to do something special with this chapter because I think this might be the last chapter. But it might not be. I will see how this one goes then I will decide.**

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Claire and Owen followed Karen into her home. The warmth of the Mitchell house instantly welcomed them and Claire couldn't help but grab hold of Owen's hand in a subtle manner. Owen felt Claire's soft hand grab his, and a smiled tugged at the corners of his lips as he gently squeezed her hand back.

As they walked further into the house, a middle aged dark haired man came to greet them and Owen instantly noticed Claire's composure transform from true content to fake politeness. Owen had seen Scott Mitchell once before on the island when he and Karen had collected the boys, and like this current moment, he didn't leave a lasting impression in Owen's mind however Owen was after all a gentleman, and he would greet his host as one. Owen stretched out his hand and introduced himself "Hey I'm Owen. Nice to meet you." Scott instantly grabbed Owen's hand, to Owen's surprise, and shook it firmly "So _you_ are the famous _Owen_. The kids haven't stopped talking about you since they got home from the park _disaster_." Scott's comment was seemingly kind, however Owen clearly noticed that Scott's _kind_ remark was more a statement of hidden annoyance than a pure compliment towards Owen. Owen forced a pleasant grin and withdrew his hand slowly and stood his ground firmly.

"Owen!" Gray's voice came crashing through the slight tension between Scott and Owen, as he ran down the stairs, with Zach following optimistically close behind.

"Hey Gray!" Owen exclaimed as Gray ran up to him and threw his arms around Owen's waist. It was a quick hug, but it was a hug none the less, and Owen couldn't believe how he truly adored Claire's nephews. When Gray pulled away, Zach walked up to Owen. Owen knew that there was _no way_ that Zach was going to _hug_ him, but Owen was only half right. He stretched out his hand to Zach, and Zach grabbed Owen's hand and shook it, then without warning he pulled Owen closer and threw his hand over Owen's shoulder, giving him a manly half-hug and tapping Owen on the back twice.

Zach pulled away and wittily commented "So you guys actually made it. Cool. I did have my doubts."

A frown appeared on Owen's face, but his emotions were warm and friendly "Hey I said we'd be here. And I always keep my word, dude. "

Zach grinned and decided to tease his not-quite-uncle-yet "So, you didn't have to do any _special_ _favours_ for Claire to convince her?"

Owen laughed as he saw himself in Zach, well, at least himself at eighteen, and he grabbed Zach with one arm around the neck and tilted him downwards and with his other hand he messed up Zach's hair slightly "You _know_ I can't tell you those things, dude. Your aunt would _kill_ me."

Gray fiercely jumped into the conversation, being left out of it for the last few moments, his voice high pitched with enthusiasm "What's happening with the park? Are they going to make more new dinosaurs? What about the raptors? Where is the T Rex?"

Owen crouched down a bit and placed his hand on Gray's shoulder and spoke kindly "I tell you what kid, if you show me your awesome dinosaur collection later…" Owen only assumed a dinosaur fanatic like Gray would have a more than impressive dinosaur collection of his own "…I will tell you anything you want to know" a smile appearing on both Gray and Owen's faces, although Gray's smile might have been quite larger than Owen's. Gray exclaimed "Deal!"

Scott appeared out of nowhere, or maybe no one had noticed that he was standing in the background the whole time, as he asked Owen hospitably "Owen can I get you a drink? Usually when Claire comes to visit she doesn't _bring anyone_ with her, so we usually only have wine, but I can check if we have some beer…"

Owen interrupted him, which he didn't want to do as it was completely rude to do so, but he knew that if this man talked too much, Owen might start making his own comical remarks, and that might put Claire in an awkward position, somewhere he never wanted her to be "No wine works. Thank you." Scott nodded politely and wanted to say something, but Zach verbally blocked him "Dad don't be such a stiff. You don't have to entertain Owen. He's like part of the family. So just chill." Owen couldn't help but smile at Zach's comment and Scott nodded uneasy and replied dryly "Well, _family_ " that word almost poisoning Scott's mouth "or not, it's always good manners to be a good host".

Owen turned to Zach and Gray "I wonder if your mom and Claire would like some wine."

Zach commented amusedly "I'm sure mom already found _something_ for her and Claire. But let me check." and Zach walked towards the kitchen to establish his mom and aunt's alcohol situation.

Gray tugged on Owen's arm and Owen couldn't be happier when Gray said "Come on, let's go see my dinosaurs." because Owen dreaded the idea of making idle chitchat with Scott. Gray and Owen walked up to his room, leaving Scott in the living room to his own unique and competitive ways.

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In the kitchen, Karen had already poured herself and Claire a glass of natural sweet white wine. Claire actually hated sweet wine since she and Karen always sneaked in a bottle of that stuff when they were teenagers. A smile appeared on her face and Karen curiously asked her "What?"

Claire laughed a bit "I was just thinking how we used to sneak bottles of these into the house when we were teenagers."

Karen's eyes grew as well as her smile "Oh my God you're right."

"You were such a bad influence." Claire replied and Karen quickly protested playfully " _I_ was a bad influence? _You_ were the one who snuck in that packet of cigarettes that one Halloween!" her voice went pitchy with delight.

Claire almost choked on her wine "That was _one_ _time._ And we almost coughed ourselves to death after the first one. We had to throw the rest of the packet away."

Karen had a suspicious naughty look on her face and Claire asked "What did you do?"

Karen hesitantly answered "I might have smoked a few more from our Halloween packet…"

"Oh my God, Karen! That's terrible!" Claire exclaimed.

Karen took a deep sip of her wine and continued casually with her confession "…and maybe a few more recently…"

Claire was almost speechless "No way." she paused for a second "Does Scott know?" the words came out, but after they did, Claire couldn't find the reason for asking the question in the first place. Who the hell cared if Scott knew his wife was smoking secretly on occasion. It was Karen's right to smoke if she wanted to, not that Claire approved but it wasn't her decision, and Scott had no control over the matter in any case.

Karen shook her head and replied confidently with a small frown "God _no_. He doesn't _have_ to know _everything_. Just as long as I don't cheat on him and I don't make big family decisions without him, then I am fulfilling my wifely duty. _God forbid_ …" the last two words came out annoyed and defeated, and Claire noticed it.

"Is everything _okay_ with you guys?" Claire knew this wasn't exactly a holiday conversation topic but she also knew that she didn't always have time to talk to Karen about these things, so she cautiously and caringly continued "I'm sorry for bringing it up. I'm just worried about you."

Karen took another sip of her wine and answered "Well, we're _not_ getting divorced anymore. The thing that happened with the park, it kind of shifted everything around. Everything just feels different. We are calmer around each other than we were before. We help each other out more, especially with the boys. I mean, things aren't perfect, but it is a lot better, at least for now. Although he still annoys the crap out of me some days" Karen's last words were more sarcastic and comical than emotional, and both of them started to chuckle slightly.

"My turn to interrogate you, little sister…" Karen smiled devilishly as she took the final sip of her glass then placing it on the counter beside her.

"Oh God, here we go." Claire protested, but prepared for whatever was to follow.

"So, how are _you two_ getting along? Is living together as much fun as you thought? And more importantly, have you two _christened_ the apartment yet?" Karen smiled and watched her sister amusedly as Claire took a big gulp from her wine, also finishing the glass.

Claire's cheeks started to heat up, and not just from the alcoholic beverage. It was not that she didn't want to tell Karen about her relationship, or more specifically the progression of her relationship with Owen, it was more that she was scared to admit how well it was going, as if admitting it would somehow jinx it. She had no idea why she felt so scared of admitting she was truly happy. Maybe it was the thought of losing her happiness, losing Owen for some unforeseen reason that terrified her, even though she would die before ever admitting that irrational fear to herself, or to anyone else. Claire finally answered, trying to hide the little grin and her feverish cheeks "We've barely started living together... It's obviously a lot different, and new, of course, and it's…" Claire was struggling to put her emotions into words.

"Exciting" Karen commented cheekily.

Claire rolled her eyes playfully at her sister and replied "Alright. Fine. Yes it's exciting. Amazing actually. I thought I would regret it as soon as he moved in, but it's been working extremely well. To be honest, I didn't think it would work, but it is. It is actually working perfectly." then Claire stopped, being careful not to gloat, especially considering the fact that Karen and Scott had almost gone through with the divorce not too long ago.

But that wasn't enough for Karen. She leaned in closer and said "And?" expecting an answer to her girls-night-out question.

Claire smiled, trying to avoid Karen's eye contact, but finally gave up and confessed "And _yes_ , if you _must_ know, we _did_ …"

"God that's hot." Karen casually commented then noticed Zach walking into the kitchen "Okay I guess you guys are set with wine." Zach glanced at Claire and cheerfully said "Hey Claire." and gave her a little wave.

Claire smiled and replied "Hey Zach."

Zach smiled and replied "I see you brought Owen with you."

Claire tilted her head and replied "Well _he_ was kind of invited before I was, so I really didn't have much of a choice" she joked.

Zach nodded his head and playfully replied "Yeah, that's true."

"Hey where is your brother?" Karen asked Zach.

"I think he is showing Owen his dinosaurs or something." Zach commented uninterestedly.

"Well go tell them to come down. Dinner is ready." Karen requested.

Zach turned around and went off to Gray's room.

Karen grabbed Claire lightly by the arm and pulled her towards the dining room "Come on, let's go get some food, and maybe, a little more wine" and Claire couldn't help but smile at her sister.

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The dining room was beautiful considering the size of the house.

Karen and Scott sat at the opposite heads of the table, as the host and hostess usually did. Gray and Zach sat on the one side across from Claire and Owen who were sitting across from the boys.

When they sat down Owen leaned over to Claire and whispered to her "So, am I allowed to touch your leg during dinner?" he joked and Claire tried to sound serious "No. It's a family dinner."

Owen smiled and replied in another whisper "Okay. Just wanted to establish our couple boundaries." and to his surprise Claire teasingly commented "…maybe later…" and when Owen glanced at her, she winked and gave him a naughty sweet smile.

After a few moments everyone had succulent roast beef and luscious creamy vegetables on their plates and the evening was progression very smoothly with wine and friendly holiday conversation.

"So how's mom's cooking?" Gray eagerly asked Owen.

"It's amazing actually" Owen truthfully answered then continued "Your mom and aunt are fantastic cooks."

"Wait? Claire actually _cooked_ for you" Karen asked intrigued and amused.

"God what is _that_ supposed to mean?" Claire interrupted playfully before Owen could answer.

Karen just smiled and replied light-heartedly "I just haven't seen you cook in a while. You said you never get time anymore…"

Claire smiled at her sister, knowing exactly that Karen was implying that Claire considered Owen special and worthy enough to actually take the time to cook for him.

Owen noticed the smiles between the sisters and placed his hand gently on Claire's leg and replied pleasantly "Well Claire's food is so much better than mine. I guess that is one of the things she will have to teach me in the future…" and Claire glanced at him and smiled warmly, Owen giving her a quick wink.

"Probably not the _only thing_ she's gonna teach you dude." Zach tried to hide his grin.

"Zach!" Karen commented more amusedly shocked than embarrassed.

"What does that mean?" Gray innocently asked his older brother.

Zach leaned in closer to Gray and shouldered him lightly and playfully whispered "Tell you when you're older dude. Promise."

Gray just shrugged his shoulders and continued devouring the food in front of him.

Scott was clearly uninvolved in the conversation, and he quickly decided to change that "So, you work for Claire? That's interesting. I think it must be strange to have a woman above you?" Scott commented frankly.

Claire didn't know what came over her, but she commented in a tone of voice that could almost be considered bitchy "No Scott. Only men like you don't like your women on top." and Zach almost spit out his food with giggles. Owen just tried the best he could to hide his grin.

Karen smiled. Scott was speechless. Que Owen Grady to the family holiday conversation rescue.

"I actually don't mind at all…" no of course he didn't mind Claire on top, and he quickly chose his words better "I mean… I don't mind having a boss who's a woman. Women don't have that my horse is bigger than yours issue, so it's an easier working environment. Actually Claire is the park's operations manager, so she is basically everyone's boss. But the work we do is actually on the West side of the island. So, Claire and I don't see each other until the evening."

Scott wanted to continue his pointless competitive charade, but Gray unintentionally put a quick stop to that "What's going on with the raptors? Is aunt Claire going to work with you now?"

Claire was secretly paying close attention to Owen's words. She had actually wanted to ask him if she could, at least in some way, be part of the work he was doing with the raptors. Since the night on the island with the raptors and the Indominus Rex, Claire had felt a shift in her. Before, she had never particularly cared about working directly with the animals at Jurassic World but now she had a certain _need_ to do so. When that raptor had looked into her eyes, she saw something that reflected herself, a raw animalistic side that she, like most people, worked so hard to hide. At that moment, thinking back to the evening at the park, she realized that she had to at least ask Owen, but this might not be the right time. _I will wait until tomorrow_ she thought to herself as she took another bite of the delicious vegetables on her plate, not considering for a moment that tomorrow her whole world might change.

Claire had also not been aware of the fact that Zach was closely monitoring his aunt's reactions.

Owen continued answering Gray's questions "They are planning on introducing a male to start with the natural breeding program. It actually should've happened this week, but for some reason they wanted more time to observe the animal."

Zach, noticing the hidden emotions running over Claire's face when his little brother asked Owen the questions, decided to help his aunt out a bit "And _you_ Claire? Aren't you gonna work with Owen?" Zach smiled and almost winked at his aunt when her eyes glanced at him, but he refrained from doing so.

Owen lost his train of thought and focused all his attention on Claire.

She looked at Zach and then at Owen, who was clearly anxiously and curiously awaiting her answer.

Claire took a deep breath and replied "Yes." a smile of disbelief but pure warmth appeared on Owen's face as he realized what she wanted "Yes I would like to. If it is a possibility, then yes." and she looked at Owen who tilted his head and a humorous smile appearing on his face as he replied "We will have to stay at my bungalow some nights… Sure you can handle life without neatly organised hotel rooms?"

She placed down her cutlery and leaned towards him and perched her lips determinedly and replied "Absolutely."

Owen wanted to fiercely pull her to him and kiss the life out of her, but he obviously had to restrain those emotions for a more convenient time. He leaned forward, their noses almost touching but not quite, and he replied in a kind with a hint of hidden seduction tone of voice "Lady's choice babe". She smiled at him and leaned forward, stealing a quick kiss from him, and pulling away to again acknowledge the rest of the table.

"That's awesome!" Gray exclaimed "Can we come and see?" he continued.

Scott commented out of nowhere "No I don't think that is such a good idea. After what happened last time I think…"

"No I think that is a _great_ idea." Karen bluntly interrupted, or more accurately _tipsy_ Karen interrupted her stuck-up husband "Owen will take care of them" it was more than a mere statement, it was an underlining conversation where Karen told Scott that if he wanted this marriage to work, he would do what was best for _this family_ , _not_ what was _best for him,_ and he would show her sister and the man who saved her boys the utmost level of respect.

Scott closed his mouth and he and Karen exchanged competitive looks. He hated when Karen had a little too much wine. Sober Karen tried to maintain the peace, at least for the family's sake, but when tipsy Karen came out to play, she deliberately showed Scott he was an asshole that needed to get the hell off his high horse.

Zach commented "Yeah dad, like I said Owen is practically family. We'll be fine" Zach not realizing that his parent's relationship was progressively returning to the 'complicated' status which lead to them starting the divorce proceedings in the first place.

Owen noticed everything. He noticed firstly, and most importantly, how happy Claire was that he wanted her by his side when they worked with the raptors in the future. He noticed Gray's true love for dinosaurs and how he would be brilliant one day when he grew up, no matter what he decided to do. He noticed how Zach, who liked to project the image that he didn't really give a shit about anyone, actually cared the most, and how Zach would one day become a man that fought for the things he believed in. He noticed how Karen was silently dying in this marriage and how she fought against her true desires to just take her sons and leave, the despair to just live happily with her children and leave her husband to his unkind and cold ways. He noticed Scott, and how he ground his teeth when his children referred to Owen as _family_ , how he still truly loved his wife but how he had no idea to show her besides treating any possible threat like a rampaging caveman instead of accepting the challenges that they faced as a couple and overcoming those challenges together.

Owen was a firm believer that if you could help someone that truly needed your help, no matter who they were or what the situation was, it was your duty to do so. He would be lying if he said he didn't have a problem with Scott Mitchell, in fact, the thought of putting him in his place had crossed Owen's mind on numerous occasions during the evening, but he loved Claire and he cared deeply for her nephews, and even her sister, and it was his duty, _as part of this family_ if he wanted to think about it that way, to help.

Owen turned to Gray and said "Well, buddy, if you're dad says it's cool, then no problem."

Scott's head flicked in Owen's direction and a confused expression, a mixture of true gratitude and complete loathing, appeared on his face but he remained quiet.

Karen knew what Owen did. She knew that he was acting in her family's best interest, and the complete admiration she already had for Mr Owen Grady, grew even more.

Scott's expression finally changed to mild warmth and even, to some small extent, acceptance, as both his sons looked at him "Sure. Why not?" the words didn't sting at all, as Scott had thought it would. He wanted his wife, and his sons, to be happy. That was after all the most important duty of a husband and father.

The dinner continued smoothly from there with delightful conversation and good food.

After an hour or so, Scott showed everyone to the living room to enjoy some after dinner drinks in front of the fireplace.

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The living room was lit with the warm subtle glow of the flames.

Zach and Gray sat on the carpet in front of the fireplace, Karen and Scott sat next to each other but on separate chairs, and Claire and Owen sat together on a double chair.

Zach had made hot chocolate for him and Gray, with extra marshmallows for his younger brother.

Karen and Scott had wisely switched to coffee, while Claire and Owen were still enjoying a last glass of wine.

After half an hour or so Gray said he was tired and Zach, who was actually getting tired himself, offered to take his little brother to bed, then turn in himself. Before the kids left the room, Gray gave both his parents a hug and a kiss, and big hugs for his aunt Claire and the man he already considered as his uncle. Then it was Zach's turn. He hugged his parents, and then he stepped toward Claire and Owen. Before Zach could act, Claire threw her arms around her nephew and hugged him tightly, and Zach hugged her back. Then Zach turned to Owen, and playing it cool, he stretched out his hand to Owen, but Owen grabbed Zach lightly behind the neck and pulled him in for an almost big-brother-uncle type of hug and Zach couldn't help but chuckle at how complete awesome Owen handled things. Then Zach and Gray were gone.

The four adults sat in the living room for a little while longer then Karen said "I'm going to turn in too. The guest bedroom is made up for you" she spoke to Claire and Owen.

"Thank you Karen" Owen said politely and continued "If it's okay with you, I would like to have a moment with Claire before we go to bed".

Karen smiled and grabbed Scott lightly by the hand, to Scott's utter surprise "Come on Scott. Let's go to bed." Scott wanted to protest but Karen, or rather more-than-tipsy-Karen, leaned in and whispered in a tone of voice that might be confused with seductive "Get the fuck up." and Scott's face heated up a bit, actually, his face was on fire at his wife's words. One of the better side effect of his wife drinking too much wine, was when she started using curse words because then Scott knew his wife had only one thing on her mind, and who was he to tell her otherwise.

Scott immediately jumped up and turned to Owen and Claire "Well guys I think I should listen to my wife. Please make yourselves at home. We will see you tomorrow." the words came out kind and honest, with no competiveness whatsoever. In that instant, Claire saw the part of Scott that Karen loved, the part that was pure, the part that was hidden under a whole lot of unexplained insecurities.

Claire got up and walked to Scott, and she did something she had never done with any _true_ emotion before. She put her arms around Scott and she hugged him, really hugged him, and said softly "Thank you Scott." and she pulled away.

Owen had also stood up and he stretched out his hand to Scott, and Scott took his hand and shook it "Thank you Scott. We won't be long." Owen spoke gently, showing Scott clearly that he knew this was Scott's house, and that he would abide by Scott's rules.

Scott, to Claire and Owen's shocking surprise, pulled Owen closer in a manly hug as Zach had done earlier that evening, and when Owen finally pulled back after the strange encounter, Scott replied "No problem. Make yourself at home..." a long paused followed then Scott uttered the words "…Like the boys said, we are like _family_ after all…" and with that Scott turned around and went up to bed to find his wife, most likely not properly clothed.

Claire turned to Owen, a shocked expression on her face "Oh my God. I can't believe _that_ just happened…" she said almost breathless.

Owen took Claire's hand in his "His not a bad guy. I think he just not a fan of showing his emotions."

Claire smiled as Owen led her back to the place they were sitting a moment ago.

They sat down next to each other, their eyes watching the flames of the fire.

Claire leaned her head on Owen's shoulder and she spoke softly "Thank you."

He remained motionless, keeping his shoulder still as she was leaning on it "For what?"

"Everything." she wanted to explain all the things she adored him for, but for some reason the moment didn't allow it. It was too perfect, to blissful to be ruined by explanations of feelings.

There was a silence that fell between them. A silence that screamed the true perfection of the love that Owen and Claire felt for each other in that moment.

Then Owen spoke "Hey, I actually have an early Christmas gift for you."

Claire sat up and looked at Owen "No..." she said almost half disappointed that he didn't wait for them to get back home tomorrow "My gift for you is at the hotel. I thought we were going to wait until we got back tomorrow…" she said slightly unprepared.

Owen just smiled and said in a cheeky sweet voice "Would you just _stop worrying_ so much. This is just something small I wanted to give you."

Claire frowned a bit, still pouty about Owen breaking their agreement, which was that they won't give each other presents at Karen's house, but they would wait to enjoy their own little Christmas-gift-giving-celebration at the hotel, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't curious.

Owen reached into his pocket and pulled out a medium sized necklace box.

Claire couldn't help the smile that was appearing on her face as she knew that Owen had asked her constantly about the necklace she always wore and where she had gotten it. She had suspected he would buy her a new one, one that came _specially_ from him, but she had to admit she didn't think she would be this excited about it.

Owen smiled as he handed her the necklace box "I think you'll like it. I don't really know jewelry… but Zach and Gray helped me pick it out…"

Claire held the white medium sized necklace box in her hand, not knowing what to expect, and as she opened the box, all her emotions went numb.

Owen watched her face intensely, not saying a word just yet.

Claire's eyes went wide and she looked up at him shocked.

Owen just smiled at her.

Claire looked down at the necklace box which did not have _anything_ in it resembling a _necklace_.

Owen wanted to move closer to her, but he staid motionless for just a moment longer.

Small droplets were forming in the corners of Claire's eyes as she looked at the contents of the box.

She reached in and took it in her fingers.

The contents of the box was _no mere necklace_ , or _silly earrings_ one buys when you had to apologize for something, _no_ , it was the one thing Claire never dreamed of wearing, a white gold engagement ring with a soft yet vibrant pink colored diamond cut elegantly in the shape of a heart.

Owen decided this was the moment to move closer and to speak "I told you" he said as he took the ring from her hold, placing it gently and tenderly on her finger "I'm here _with_ you…" pausing slightly before the last word passed his lips "… _always._ " and as Claire pulled him closer, pressing her lips fiercely against his, a small tear of joy ran down her face as the answer escaped her throat with pure unique unmeasured by any other emotion in the world happiness "Yes."

 **NOTE: Thanks again to everyone who wrote a review, or followed / favoured my story, and to everyone who took the time to read it. You guys are amazing. I will finish the story here, at least for now. Maybe I will add other chapters in the near future. I probably will. But we will see xoxo**


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